America's Mew Mew
by Ally Marton
Summary: The Tokyo Mews have saved Japan and the rest of the world. Or so they had hoped. The aliens return home with mew aqua is successful and full of promise for the desolated planet. But a few don't believe they should allow the humans to win...
1. Prologue

Prologue:Three days after the final victory for the mew mews, a spacecraft approached the desolated planet that the inhabitants of that shuttle called home. The surface looked barren, covered in decades of ice and fogged by the planet's fumes. Kish, Pai, and Taruto's ship descended into a scarcely noticeable crevice.

"Home," said Taruto with an amazing lack of enthusiasm.

Kisshu's words dripped with mock cheerfulness. "Just as desolated as before."

"That's about to change." Pai maneuvered the craft on to the landing space.

"Do you suppose everyone will take it well?" Kisshu looked toward the emotionless Pai for any sign of what he was thinking.

"Those old bags-of-bones are gonna have to take it well!" shouted Taruto in defiance. "We may not have earth, but we got the mew aqua! We can make this place even better than that earth! So those old farts better not give us any grief about this!"

"Don't speak of the elders like that." Pai cautioned.

"I must agree with you Pai," A figure teleported into the center of the ship, his face grave and even more emotionless than Pai's. "That is a most unwanted thing to call your elders, Taruto-kun."

"Y-Yakimo-sensei!" Taruto stuttered in surprise, a blush creeping into his features. "How is the colony?"

The elder turned towards him, his robe making a quiet whisper on the shuttle's floor. "They are doing as best as can be considered in our current situation, Taruto-kun. Which brings me to a very important question." He turned his intense gray eyes onto Pai. "We were out of contact for some time, you must understand that we're _very_ eager to know of how your mission went."

Kish tossed his head nonchalantly. "I'm sure the information we have will be a little different than what you're expecting, Yakimo-sensei."

The pale senior turned to look at him, "Oh? Then perhaps we'd better assemble the elders right away." He turned back to Pai. "We will be expecting you in 5 minuets." With another stern glance toward Taruto and Kish he teleported away.

"Why the heck do they always recognize you as the leader, Pai?" Kish asked, feigning a pout.

"Because he's the one that doesn't fall for the enemy." Taruto snickered.

A flash of annoyance crossed Kisshu's eyes, but his smirk grew wider, "Oh? And you haven't either, _Tar-Tar_?"

"Don't call me that!" he screamed.

Pai turned toward them, "We'd better go. It wouldn't be wise of us to make them wait."

There were actually five elders in all, though when the trio arrived the room held at least seventy people.

The first elder was Hanro, the oldest of the entire colony. He looked about the age of 60, though he was hundreds of years older than this. His eyes were an intense emerald while his hair had long ago turned the snowy white it now was. Yakimo had taken his place behind the old being where he could be at Hanro's beck and call.

The second, Geberot, was a pompous fool who seemed to only inherit his current position due to family relations, though he was a good tactician. His hair was beginning to whither away, and could barely hold the black sheen it once contained, his shifty yellow eyes never content with what he saw. His son, Yakuro, was very much the same in hair and eye, but otherwise unnaturally quite the opposite of his father. While Geberot was fat his son was quite wiry, with muscles as proof of the hard work he did. His father's eyes were wide and glazed, while Yakuro's angular ones showed full awareness to his surroundings and a shrewd way of observing. Where his father was a coward Yakuro fought, and where his father sneered the boy usually appraised. The only downside to Yakuro was his stubborn attitude and fiery temper. Despite this, many looked forward to the day that he would take over his fathers place. This made the son and father very unfriendly towards one another, and Geberot took it upon himself to point out every wrong he could find in his only child.

The third leader was named Levern, Pai's oldest brother, he didn't have much of a say in the circle because of his "young" age. He wouldn't have been within the group of elders, but Pai and Levern's father, Enuch, had died in one of the blizzards a few years back and it was Pai's older brother's duty to take his father's place.

Kisshu walked to his place behind the fourth leader, Issus, who also happened to be his grandfather. Kish took much after him were it not for his pigtails and golden eyes, while Issus had a loose ponytail holding his dusty green hair back and away from his purple irises.

Taruto went behind the fifth member of elders. She was very young and had the same colored brown hair as Taruto's own, which is quite natural since she was his mother. While the well being of the people was the main concern for the elders, Yakima, as she was called, was in closest relations to the people, and acted more as a spokesman than any others in the group.

After they had all taken their places, Hanro stood and bayed all to sit. He spoke in a firm voice not likely heard in one his age. "Our people welcome you home with gladness Pai-kun, Kisshu-kun and Taruto-kun. It is normally done in our ways that we would hold council alone and you'd have time to rest. In all truth, however, we are all clearly eager to here of your victory over the earth-beings." All eyes naturally turned toward at least one of the heroes-from-war, Kish and Taruto trying to keep from looking into their people's eyes.

Pai stood gazing ahead at Hanro, his unemotional mask unwavering. "Our news that we carry, Hanro-sensei, is not one that you expect."

Geberot started wheezing piggish chortles, "You've lost? What nerve you have to return to our home in such a way. Have the earth-beings made you forget your place of honor?"

Pai gave a piercing glare towards the second elder, who let his laughing drift into an uncomfortable silence. "It is true that we did not defeat the humans and take their planet as our own, Geberot-sensei." He looked back to Hanro. "Even when Deep Blue-sama appeared we were without hope of defeating them. But the beings have given us a precious gift." At this he took out the mew aqua and held it before his people, who had gone silent and stared at the sparkling amount of liquid. "On earth, they called this substance mew aqua, it has the ability to heal and create new life. Though it doesn't seem like enough, even a drop alone can redeem half of this planet to the lush form it once had."

The trio's audience gasped in amazement, there hope had been rekindled. Since Geberot couldn't handle looking towards Pai any longer, he focused his glare towards Kisshu and Taruto. "What kind of lies are you trying to shove down our throats? You find that you cannot defeat the earthlings so you make up this story on how a bottle of some sparkling substance is going to save us? Where's your proof?" Despite the natural opposite in the father and son, Yakuro's face showed the same amount of skepticism as his father's, and a tinge of anger began to sparkle in the young man's eyes.

Kisshu fixed a fanged smile on his face, making it appear he was giving a pleasant threat. "Geberot-sensei, surely you know us better than this to make such petty accusations towards us. We couldn't defeat the mew mew's and reclaim earth, so we brought you the next best thing, a way to re-create that planet."

"Ah, yes, the Mew Mew's." said Hanro quietly. "So the mere number of 5 earthlings was enough to withstand our three best soldiers? Are humans that powerful?"

"And as I recall from one of your transitions, you said the five earthlings were _females_, were they not?" Geberot sneered.

Yakima leveled a steady gaze at the second elder. "Would you care to expand, Geberot, as to why the fact that they aren't males would make so much of a difference?"

"The Mews were designed to fight off and counter our attacks, Hanro-sensei." Taruto piped in, shooting a nasty glare towards Geberot. "They're also the ones who harvested and willingly gave us the mew aqua after the battles."

"Then how would we know that the enemy didn't trick your befuddled minds after the battle and that liquid won't obliterate us all?" Geberot countered, carefully avoiding Yakima's gaze and instead glaring at her son.

"Hanro-sensei." Pai interrupted. "I would like to propose a test, if any of our people have any doubts."

"I agree to my brothers proposal." Levern asserted quietly. "I see no reason why our own would lie to us. We trusted them with our lives when they went to reclaim earth for us, why should we doubt them now?"

"I agree with Levern, Hanro-sensei." Yakima put her hand lightly on her son's head. "There's no reason why I shouldn't be able to trust my son."

"I also agree to this." Issus said firmly.

"Very well, Pai-kun. The elders have spoken and wish you to give a test of this rare substance you have." Said Hanro.

"Thank-you for granting this to us, Hanro-sensei. If someone could bring in one of the plants from the vegetation facility, we will show proof of the mew aqua's capabilities."

While Yakimo left to retrieve a plant, the whole room went abuzz with murmurs. Some appeared to side with Geberot and were sharing and confining their doubts with one another. Most faces were alight with hope of the new beginning, and many were trying to converse with Pai on this.

Taruto moved over to Kisshu, "What if they don't like it? What if we really did fail our people?"

Kisshu glanced down, his eyes serious (for once). "We didn't fail anyone, and they'll get proof soon enough of our loyalty. If they don't like it, then they can't possibly have the best in mind for the colony."

The grumbles and quiet conversing ceased as Yakimo came back into the room carrying a dead fruit tree. Taruto quietly made his way back to his mother. Yakimo set the pot in the middle of the table and turned to Pai, "Pai-kun, you claim this substance heals and re-creates things. I hope this isn't too overdone as to what you were hoping."

Pai glanced at his brother for permission and strode towards the pot. "Thank-you, Yakimo-san. This will be perfect for the example." He carefully removed the crystal stopper and tipped the bottle forward. No one in the audience spoke; even Geberot seemed to be holding his breath. A single drop of sparkling liquid fell from the bottle and Pai quickly replaced the stopper. The drop landed on the lowest leaf and then fell into the soil.

The people waited for a moment, two moments, five.

Just as Geberot was about to begin his outburst the plant began to shimmer and glow. The room was filled with gasps and sighs as a feeling of happiness, not felt for a long time by these people, flew and filled every space within the room. The plant, for those who were able to see it happen, began to grow anew and with vigor.

The crumbling leaves softened back to a rubbery green, the trunk shot higher than it had in life, creating many more leaves, the decaying fruit fell away as buds appeared and rapidly became yellow blossoms, then they too fell away as large, ripe fruit took it's place. The tree grew beyond the need of the pot and shattered it, then began to work its way in and over the table, making the elders scatter. Everyone watched in awe as the tree slowly came to a stop, just barely touching the top of the cavern-like room. The roots dug deeply into the rock, and finally also stopped moving. Gradually the light faded away, but the feeling it left behind was tangible.

Hanro picked himself up with Yakimo's help and made his way gingerly toward the tree. He reached for one of the lower fruits, which seemed to shimmer. It was a lovely shade of blue with a peach shape. Hanro brought it to his face, and before anyone could stop him, took a bite of the fruit. The room was still, everyone intent on nothing but watching the elder's face as to what he thought. He stared at the fruit a few seconds more, then turned to Pai. "Forgive us for having placed any form of doubt on you, Pai-kun, Kisshu-kun, Taruto-kun. You have brought hope back to this desolate planet, and for that, no one will be able to thank you enough." He turned to the other elders, "Have our scientists look into this substance and see how we may best use it, I want none more of it wasted."

The elders began to file out of the room, each one attempting to discreetly take a piece of the fruit to try it themselves. The crowd that had been held back as if by some spell now surged on the trio, offering thanks and congratulations in loud voices, while at the same time grabbing for some of the fruit.

Only one elder lingered, with eyes of frustration focused on the heroes. And when he left, only one person didn't feel the calming effects of the mew aqua, and instead stared angrily at the group from the shadows. Yakuro watched the pudgy figure of his father disappear from view. _A coward, _he thought bitterly, _and three failures,_ he glanced back at Pai, Kisshu and Taruto. _They claimed that Blue-sama could not help them, their wrong! They failed Blue-sama, and in doing so Blue-sama could not win. And when they lost, they ran away and then had the nerve to grovel at the enemies feet still for help! The earth was ours! It _is _ours! _Yakuro turned away from the crowd, motioning two other more sulking friends to follow. _And I will win earth back for us!_

"Yakuro, what will the elders say to what we're doing? What if they label us traitors for this?!" Tyrais exclaimed, her carefully cropped short hair seemed to frizz the more she became antagonized.

Yakuro looked at her in a way that seemed to demean her. She was slightly shorter than him, her violet eyes complimenting her raven blue hair. She carried herself proudly, wearing a black tank and mini skirt, with high boots to match. The lack of respect she gave him tended to make his temper rise, which it was doing now.

"The humans aren't the true inhabitants of earth, we are!" he began to argue. "We had to leave centuries ago and wait in agony for the time when we could return, and look at what happened while we were away! Some other, _inferior_ species arises and takes over the planet, and starts to destroy it all over again! We're more powerful then them, no matter what that failure Pai-kun thinks! We can go, wipe out the race, and come back heroes!" He turned over to a boy at his left. "You agree with me, right, Lentro-san?"

The pale boy looked toward Yakuro, his hair being almost the color of Kisshu's, only more vibrant. His orange eyes half-closed, looking more tired than he ever was. "You know I agree with you, Yakuro. Those humans are going to get tenfold from us what the last group gave 'em. But cut the –san stuff, will you? I'm barely older than you, and being taller means nothing."

Yakuro turned to the other boy, "And you, Xakiteu?"

Xakiteu had sandy blonde hair that was currently swaying with him shaking his head, "I can't believe you're worried about his, Tyrais." He turned to look at the girl, who still stubbornly held a pouting position. "Those earth-scum would probably wipe us out if they got the chance, we're just hitting them before they can. Once we conquer the race, our people will have _two _planets!" The boy's red eyes penetrated into hers.

Lentro turned and regarded her as well, "If your main concern is the elders blowing up at us, we don't have to worry." He regarded Yakuro for a moment, "You did take precautions for this, correct?"

Yakuro's yellow eyes blazed at the sensed challenge. "Of course I did!" He looked down. "My father says he'll help us in anyway he can, and that _includes_ keeping the elders off our backs."

Xakiteu raised his eyebrows. "Geberot? You trust your cowardly father with this?"

Yakuro tensed. "He's the only one that seems to agree with what we're doing."

Tyrais sighed loudly, causing the attention of the boys to focus back on her. "Fine, so long as I'm not going to get my family in trouble for this, let's do it."

Lentro smirked. "I take it we're 'borrowing' the 'heroes' ship?"

"It _is_ the only one that would make it to earth." Xakiteu mused.

"Lentro, you and Xakiteu work on breaking into the ship's system and get it running, me and Tyrais will meet you guys there in 30 minuets, we'll make sure everything else is prepared." Yakuro looked down towards the lights where the festival was being held. _Next time we'll be the heroes. There's no way we'll lose._

End Prologue.


	2. Shaky Beginings

Kisshu wandered around the tables aimlessly, basking in the attention of their return home

Kisshu wandered around the tables aimlessly, basking in the attention of their return home. Everywhere around him were cheers to the group, the planets future, he even heard one for the Mews who gave the mew aqua (that cheer ended uncomfortably though).

As he made his way around he couldn't help but grin as some of the more mature girls present made suggestive moves near him. _But none of them are my Ichigo. _He thought with a slight pang.

Pai, much to Kisshu's amusement, seemed to attract even more of the girl's attention than him. Kisshu smirked as he saw what a turn off his friend's politely emotionless mask was being towards the daring ladies.

The green haired alien maneuvered his way over to where Taruto sat. "Soooo, Taruto-kun. Enjoying your self?"

Truth-be-told the little alien looked more displeased than anything. He glared up towards Kisshu accusingly. "Mom has to sit around with those air-filled elders until this is over. They haven't restored the planet yet, and there's nothing to do here but eat!"

Pai suddenly appeared beside Taruto, his fan club nowhere in sight. "Keep in mind, Taruto-kun, that last time we left the planet this kind of thing was all but impossible. Notice how most of the food here is in fact the same fruit from that tree? Some people told me that it keeps growing fruit back faster than they can take it off."

Kisshu winked at his small friend. "But it's not the food that's got you down, right?" His tone took on mock sympathy. "I'm sure if she could, the monkey-girl would have come to, _Tar-tar_."

"Don't call me that!" he erupted, causing a few nearby guests to jump.

"You really shouldn't taunt him like that, Kisshu," Pai looked at the green haired alien, his face expressionless, "You know he misses Pudding terribly."

Taruto's face went from shocked, to indignant to complete aggravation. But Kisshu simply burst out laughing. "A joke? Coming from the emotionless one in the group? The festivities clearly bring out the best in you, Pai."

Suddenly an alarm began to sound, disrupting the festivities so that the partying came to a confused stop. Guests looked at one another anxiously.

Another began to sound as well.

And another.

"What is the meaning of this?" called out Hanro above the alarms, while at the same time Yakima began calling for order in the quickly panicking crowd.

One of the guards appeared in the doorway. "Sir! Someone's taking off with one of the transports!"

"What?!" Issus shouted.

Another man appeared at the doorway, "Hanro-sensei! We can't stop the craft, our controls are being blocked somehow!"

"Pai! Get over there and see what's going on!" Levern called, though he was now close enough to have been able to whisper it.

Pai glanced at Taruto and Kisshu. Kisshu had no time for giving a smart remark as they ran down the hall towards the landing area.

The ship was still making its way out of the crevice, and the group was close enough to recognize it as their ship. Pai turned to an officer. "Has anyone attempted to teleport to it?" he had to yell over the sound of the ascending ship.

"No sir!" the officer appeared flushed by the unexpected occurrences. "We don't know if they're armed or not!"

"Leave it to me!" Kisshu called over to Pai. Knowing what Pai would most likely do, he began before the reply.

"Kisshu! Wait-!" Pai stared into empty space where his friend had just been. "That idiot," He growled. "Taruto!" Pai regarded the little alien sternly, "Go and bring the elders, tell them that there's a possibility someone's trying to go back to earth!"

Kisshu hadn't much time to think of his landing location, and ended up directly in the navigation pit. The teleportation had barely worked, there was too much distance being put in.

Which meant there would be trouble getting back.

Kisshu didn't have much time to wonder about this. "Yakuro!?" He exclaimed, taken aback by seeing the boy navigating the ship almost out of the crevice.

The boy seemed just as surprised to see one of the 'heroes' teleport into the stolen ship. "How did-? Lentro!"

Kisshu had just a few seconds enough to wonder who Lentro was, turn around, and bring his blades to block the attack of two wicked-looking daggers. He stared into the eyes of a boy about his height, though he was younger. His green hair stood straight on it's own and had a more lush sheen to it. "The two of you decided to take a joy ride? Aren't you aware the elders don't appreciate surprises anymore?"

A crack echoed in the closed in air and Kisshu became aware that his back felt as though it were ripping apart. He quickly shoved the Lentro kid off his feet and spun to face the other attacker. He had thought it was Yakuro, since that's where the attack came from, but instead a girl stood a few steps away, brandishing a long whip.

She smirked at him, her tone sounding at ease while her position remained tense. "I suppose I should be impressed with you, hero, not a lot of people could remain standing with my whip across their back."

Kisshu almost had the smart remark out of his mouth when the sound of metal cutting air brought his attention to his right side. With his back muscles possibly ripped, he barely held back the large blade that was coming for his shoulder. He was greeted with the sight of blood red eyes glaring at him from behind blonde bangs. "If this is all you can do in a fight, no wonder the earthlings sent you packing."

Kisshu grinned viciously at the kid, "And you think you could do better against them?" His answer was obvious as the boy took offense and shoved him backward. The red-eyed boy made a lunge at him with the sword while Kisshu watched in exasperation as a dagger came into his peripheral vision. Barely missing a beat he bounced the dagger away and kicked the sword from the boys grasp. He took another step forward and swept the kid's feet out from under him, which to Kisshu's pleasure was rewarded by a look of utter shock from the boy.

He had enough time to once again comprehend the sound of the whip, only this time it didn't crack. Instead he became suddenly aware of his arms being pinned to his side, without his consent. Kisshu looked down to discover the whip wrapped around his body.

Tight.

"Yakuro, what do you want us to do with him?" the girl to his side asked, her violet eyes intent on Kisshu as she held the whip firmly so not to allow any slack. The blonde boy had recovered his sword and backed away reluctantly, while the tall kid walked a little nearer, his dagger already recovered.

Kisshu swiveled his head to face the black haired boy, whose eyes were still wide with shock. "Do you have the guts to try and finish me off kid?" Immediately regretting his smart tongue Kisshu began to dutifully pray they weren't out to try and prove themselves men or something childish like that.

Yakuro's eyes momentarily blazed at the remark, but he shook his head. "Our fight isn't with you, failure." He turned toward the tall boy with orange eyes. "Throw him out, and hurry about it, we need to enter hyper space soon."

Kisshu heard steps approach him, but missed the sound of the butt of the dagger coming in contact with his head. Stars and bright lights exploded in front of him until the world became engulfed in darkness.

"Pai! Something's falling off the transport!" Taruto pointed to emphasize, though he had said "something", the form of a person was becoming outlined. The ship had made it past the crevice a while ago, and the body began to bounce off various jutting rocks along the side.

"Taruto! Get ready!" Pai watched the body fall helplessly, until it came closer in they hadn't a prayer to help.

"Who is it? Is it Kisshu?" Issus gazed at the falling body anxiously. "Why isn't he recovering himself?"

"He must be unconscious." Levern looked sick as he watched the body once again bang against part of the wall. His body was only half-way down the deep hole.

"Now, Taruto!" Pai called.

Both beings vibrated and disappeared, then reappeared somewhat beneath the falling Kisshu, just barely catching him. A few moments later they reappeared with Kisshu between them, his body battered and bloody from the fall.

"Kisshu!" Issus ran forward and held his grandson. He turned to Taruto's mother. "Yakima! Run to the infirmary, get the doctors, quickly!"

Pai and Taruto gently heaved their friend into his relative's arms. "Reckless." Pai reproached, his normal mask now set with a deep, worried frown.

Taruto stood with his hands bunched into tight fists, he reeled on one of the guards, "Who did this to him? Who stole the transport?!"

The guard was taken aback by Taruto's sudden fierceness and stuttered something about not knowing.

"Are we sure the rocks didn't give him all that battering?" Heads swiveled mechanically on Geberot, who had been staying in the back of the group. His face wasn't sneering, but his voice seemed to be edging toward something like that. "How do we know that he didn't attempt to teleport himself out and he hit his head while attempting to recover? The gas fumes up there are sure to muddle his brain from comprehending a more logical solution." His sick eyes made an effort to look sympathetic at Kisshu's state, but they dragged over to the crevice, where the blizzards continued their work on the planet's surface. "One thing I think we can agree on is if they are heading back for earth, there's no way we can stop them."

Pai looked at Geberot, his emotionless mask unnerving the group, "No, we can't." He looked back to the opening. "Not yet."

The alien's form of hyper space from earth to their planet would naturally seem like 3 days to them, but their time moves much slower in comparison to earth's, and in the three days that the aliens had left, it was a span of 3 years for earth.

That being said, it's now a little over 5 years since the last battle with the Tokyo Mew Mew was over. In that amount of time, wonderful things have occurred. Back at café Mew Mew, Retasu (or previously known as Mew Mew Lettuce) has now been promoted to senior manager, and does her job proudly (and with more enthusiasm, as she doesn't have to cater around breakable objects anymore). The other 5 mews (including Berry, though she hadn't been in the last alien battle) had quit their waitress job some years ago in pursuit of other careers and lives. The café had rehired 4 new ladies, all younger and unaware of what the café really had been (or was).

The café had closed up for today, however, and only she and Ryo Shirogane and Keiichiro Akasaka are still there. The green mew walked down to the basement into Ryo's lab, where, despite the lack of danger to the earth anymore, he still goes "just to make sure" everything's alright.

"Ryo, do you need anything?" she asked, laying her hand gently on his shoulder.

Ryo looked away from the computer, catching his wife's hand to look at the diamond ring resting there. He looked back to her smiling face, returning to her a grin. "Thanks, but I'm fine. Would you care for anything?"

Retasu's smile grew, "Thank-you, love, but I'm fine as well." She looked to his computer. "What's going on?"

"What?" Ryo looked back as the computer began going ballistic with flashes of letters and numbers. "What?!" Ryo began franticly typing in formulas and switching cables.

Lettuce took a few steps back, trying to stay out of his way. "Ryo?" She asked uncertainly.

"The aliens… they're… contacting us!" He tried to explain between frantic movements to set things up. He flicked one last wire into the computer and sat back, watching the screen carefully. At first it went black on them, leaving the room dark, then flickering static began to move across the monitor. Gradually a picture began to form, and Retasu gasped slightly as one of their previous foes faces came into view. The static continued to dance around the picture and sound.

"_Shhhzz-_Tokyo Mew Me-_shhz_-? _Shhhz-_Mew, respond."

Ryo leaned forward and pressed a key. "Pai? This is Tokyo Mew Mew base, respond." His hands began moving around the volume controls in attempt to lessen the static.

"Mew Base, _shhhhhhhhhhzz_ problem. Some of our _sssshhhzzz_ attack earth-"

"What? Repeat."

"Someone hasn't agreed _ssshhhzz_, their going back to earth to try and _shz_-claim it."

Lettuce drew in her breath sharply. "Another attack?"

Pai continued. "We can't stop them. _Shhz _took _ssshhhtz _last transport, we'll have to make another."

"How long ago did they take it?"

_Shhhz _ "3 days ago, we couldn't con-_shz_ sooner."

"3 days?!" Ryo let out a few profanities. "They would already be here!"

"There's nothing that we can do to stop them now."

"Hold it." Ryo began rummaging through his erratic stacks of paper work. "I've been working on a faster way to get to each other's galaxies, it isn't perfected, but give me a few months, and we could do it, but you still would need a transport.

_Sssshhhzt_- "Leave that to us, _shz-_few of your weeks and we can be ready-"

Static began to morph the shape of Pai's face, his words now completely in audible. Ryo pressed the one of the buttons. "Pai! Respond!"

The picture ended up blacking out, the static gone. Transmission ended.

Ryo didn't even hesitate after he was sure there were no more attempts and began pounding the keys and switching in various wires. Retasu came forward now, watching her husband carefully. "We haven't been attacked yet, but I don't think they'll be coming here." He said to her unasked question. "I'm setting up the computer to do a world scan for any alien activity."

Lettuce smiled faintly, her husband always had a plan. Both watched as the screen lit up with a picture of the globe, a box in the left corner showed them the process of the scan; they started in Japan and continued there way on west. The globe stopped moving and a red light began to flash in the small box. "Their attacking America?" Lettuce murmured in surprise.

"It would make sense if they're trying to take out one of the super powers on the planet." Ryo considered. He turned to his wife, a look of determination lighting up his eyes. "Run and tell Keiichiro that he's just been promoted to this café's new manager, and have him alert the mews that they might need to come back and take on there old jobs."

Retasu blinked as sudden understanding hit her. "We're not using the old team?"

"No," Ryo maximized the pictured of the USA to center in on the exact location of where the aliens were, "We'll be going to America to set up another café, I _had_ already been considering chain restaurants."

"A _new_ mew team, in America?" Lettuce asked uncertainly.

"Yes," Ryo zoomed in a little farther, "I believe the state of New York, to be exact."


	3. Simple Moments

Author's Note (

**Author's Note (?): All right then. HELLOOOO! Do not be alarmed if this note seems overly hyper, I'm just excited. I tried doing this in the first chapter, but for some reason it never showed up (or maybe it did but I just can't see it… any-a-who). I wanted to real quick say thank-you to the generous hearts who have reviewed my work so far. I'm going to be honest here, I LOVE when I get comments on this story I'm trying (and I get jealous when I see other people get wonderful reviews, but in a good way! I assure you!). I want to try and add these at the beginning and end of my chapters like I see other people do, so you'll see a lot more. K, I'm sure you'd rather read the next chapter then me spill my heart to you. Enjoy!**

The infirmary was quieter than usual as Yakima made her way down the long hallway. In less than a day their scientists had found a way to duplicate some of the properties of mew aqua. Over half of the patients in the infirmary were gone and back with family thanks to the mystic liquid. Yakima's waist length hair arched sharply as she turned down another corridor. Despite the long-term absence of her son, she and Taruto still hadn't had a chance to speak to one another, and she was determined to have it soon. Yakima knew without a doubt her son would be here looking after Kisshu.

_Poor Kisshu._

She winced inwardly as she recalled the alien's plummet after falling from the stolen craft. He hadn't regained conscious yet, so no one knew whether just the rocks severely hurt him, or if they had help. The whole colony was still feeling the effects of pandemonium from the surprise, and a search for exactly who took off with the ship couldn't properly be conducted yet.

Yakima turned down one last hallway to find her son sitting outside a room at the far end. Taruto looked somewhat distraught and weary, but otherwise all right. _Of course he's all right! _She silently reprimanded herself. _He's not the one who made a split-second decision to attempt suicide._

She came and stopped a few steps away from him, realizing he still hadn't noticed her. "Taruto?"

He glanced up at her, his tired face turning stunned. "Mom?"

She had predicted that he would get up and come hug her like he always once had after she came back from a long meeting with the elders, but Taruto remained seated, knowing what she expected but attempting not to. Yakima smiled as she came to sit next to him, "You've matured since last I was with you, my Taruto."

He immediately perked at the compliment. "You think so?" After a few seconds his face clouded over, his tone grouchy. "I'm still not taller though."

Yakima laughed good-naturedly at her son, and much to his embarrassment pulled him closer to her. "Oh Taruto! I've missed you so much!" She glanced at the door to Kisshu's room, her bright mood dimming once again at the memory of why her son was there. "How is he?"

Taruto also took a quick look at the door. "He won't wake up, but the doctor said it's only sleep, not a coma."

His mother sighed, "You know, Taruto, I never much liked Kisshu." She raised a hand as her son tried to speak up. "He always seemed to pick on you, and it hurts a mother when she sees someone mistreating her child. I was afraid you'd pick up some of Kisshu's… _exotic_ habits as well, and I didn't want you to learn to play with a woman's heart like he did. But I can see that you've matured well, despite the company you kept." Yakima beamed at her son again, pulling him (against his protests) into a hug, "You make me very proud of you, Taruto."

"Mommm!" He whined.

She let him go, but not before kissing him quickly on the cheek. "Be good, now! I'll see you soon!" And with that, she was off back down the hall, leaving a blushing son behind.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Shirogane tried to find the sea that moved thousands of feet below him, but to no avail. The sun had just gone down, and though it was a relief to be rid of the sun's glare, the darkness wasn't helping either.

He and Retasu had been flying for 5 hours now in order to get to America, and they still had 2 and 1/2 hours to go. This added to the 3-hour ride to the airport, 1-hour and 30-minute delay for their plane, and 45-minute wait before take-off was testing his limits (he hadn't been getting enough sleep anyway with all the preparations for both the new and old cafés).

He felt a light hand encase his and give it a small squeeze. He turned to find his wife smiling sympathetically with him. "You should rest, Ryo. There's nothing you can really do until we land."

He sighed in irritation. "I know! But I can't stop thinking that they could attack at any minute, and I haven't even set up the new Mew project so I can counter attack them!"

She blushed involuntarily at his outburst; it reminded him of back when they had first met. _She hadn't cut her hair then._ He recalled the extraordinarily long length it had been, and how he had missed it when she cut it a few months back. "I'll miss it, but I want to try something new. I can always grow it back." He recalled her saying, though he knew Minto also pressured her into it, just like she had with the contacts for her too.

"At least the café will be ready to go when we get there." She quietly murmured to him, trying to calm his nerves. Ryo had an old friend build the new shop for him, and knew he was very capable of completing it quickly while retaining the quality the building would need. "And you have the DNA samples ready, don't you?" she questioned, trying to draw him away from the main problem. He loved how she always tried to help others in her quiet way.

"Yes, you're right. Once we land we can set everything up and we'll be okay." He leaned over and kissed his wife softly on her lips, grinning with pleasure as she blushed a little more. "I'll try and sleep then. For your sake, if no one else."

He shut his eyes and lay back, savoring the feeling of Retasu's hand on his until he drifted off to sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Yakuro was becoming aggravated. This had gone so much easier in his mind as to how to take over the planet. But now that he was there, it seemed a little more imposing. _But there's no way we're going back as failures too!_ He thought viciously. His yellow eyes blazed as the challenge taunted him endlessly. The others had gone to bed, as it was night on this side of earth's globe. Though Yakuro's agitation was enough to keep him up, that wasn't why he was.

The communications screen lit up and began to form an image of his father. "Yakuro, respond," said Geberot's piggish face.

Sighing in exasperation Yakuro set up his side of the message's device. "Hello, father." He replied, somewhat subdued than normal.

Geberot, seeing his son's response, began to vent immediately. "You over-eager fickle boy! I trusted you to hold your side of the plan out smoothly, and look what happens! I told you you'd have to kill anyone who got on the ship, didn't I?! And yet Issus's bloody grandson is still alive! He saw you didn't he? What do you think will happen when he wakes up? You haven't even begun the plan and your ruining it, you hopeless child!"

"_You_ agreed to keep people from getting to the ship, and you didn't. If Kisshu worries you so badly, father, kill him yourself." Geberot's face went red as he tried to stammer out an excuse. "Besides that, the moment things get too hot for you to handle, you'd turn tale on us. We won't have _murder _on our records even _if _an elder ordered it of us." Yakuro glared at the screen venomously, daring his father to defy him.

Geberot recovered enough to cast a demeaning looked into his screen as well. "The problem is that they'll find out who took the ship soon enough, once things settle again. And what do you propose when that occurs?"

Yakuro didn't raise his voice, but his words cut air. "Geberot," he only used his father's name when he was too disgusted to call him anything else, "how could they stop us? We took their only transport to earth, you and the rest of the colony are virtually grounded until we get back."

"Levern's brother, Pai, seems to be making a new vessel."

Yakuro's voice rose slightly. "What? Why!"

"What do you think?" Geberot's voiced dripped with scorn, "He's planning to come and intercept your group!"

"By the time he gets here we'll have this planet in our hands! There's too much space difference for him to get here soon enough!"

"All I know is that his group are going to try and stop you, and if I try to stop them, I think it'll be obvious who took the ship!"

Yakuro felt slightly desperate, and he hated it. "Cause a distraction, anything to keep them off our tail! I know you're capable enough to do _that_." He watched in satisfaction as his father stuttered for something to say back before stating "Transmission Ended," and shutting down the screen.

The ship's interior became quiet once again, save for Lentro's muffled snoring. Yakuro ran his hands through his hair repeatedly, fighting back the urge to smash something. _I'll never live up to his expectations! Then again, as if I'd want to live up to the expectations of a pig!_

He glanced out the window at the world below, even from the third layer in the atmosphere; the lights on the earth were bright enough to see. Despite his anger, he had to admit it was an impressive sight to see. _It _will _be ours._ He thought with determination. _How we'll get it, I'm not sure, but there's no way we'll lose!_

"One more day." He murmured to himself. "One more day until we begin our claim on the earth."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Retasu checked her watch as they pulled up to the hotel they had rented. Pressing a button at the top "4:12 a.m." appeared in contrast to the green glow. Ryo had slept the whole drive there (at her request mainly), and was still quietly snoring in the car. Retasu sighed wearily. _Why can't there be peace between our planets?_ She knew it wouldn't matter how much she wanted peace if the aliens who were coming wanted war just as bad, but she hoped.

The café was just a few blocks down the road, but Shirogane's friend still held the keys for it, so they'd have to wait till tomorrow to get it and move in. _I hope Akasaka's doing all right._ She thought tiredly. Well, there was nothing she could do till tomorrow anyhow.

She went into the lobby and just as quickly came back out with their room key in hand. Waking up her husband, she and he wearily got out their overnight bags and headed to their room.

**And… cut? Yeah well, I honestly had no clue how to do this part; I just want to get to the butt kicking! As a quick note, I noticed other people spell Ryo as Ryou, and I'm not sure which is right, but I'm going to keep writing it as Ryo, so I apologize if that's bothering anyone. Oh! I have an idea on what I want to name the main new mew, but if someone has any suggestions, I'd gladly like to here them (I'm horrible at new names). Until the next chapter!**

**Please Review?**


	4. America's Freedom

Author's Note: I

**Author's Note: I. Am. So. Sorry! Took forever! I made you wait, (probably ticked a few of you off as well!). I had fun with this chapter; I love humor to a fault. But I didn't get nearly as much in as I had planned to, so I hope your content with it till the next one! Enjoy!**

"TI-MO-THY!!"

Mrs. Dahwe and her oldest son glanced at the stairs just in time to see Timothy, her 8-year-old son, scurry down the stairs as if fire was at his heels.

And since her only daughter Freedom was running down in pursuit of him, there wasn't much difference.

"Mo-om! Freedom says she's going to kill me!" Timothy called out from his defense position in the dining room. Freedom ran in, both siblings now facing each other from opposite sides of the table. Mrs. Dahwe sighed in resignation, quickly setting the mixing bowl on the table she made her way to the dining room, where the shrieks and yells had begun anew.

"Freedom! Let go of him!" The mother called over the ruckus. Freedom had chased Timothy around the table until she had caught him, and was now holding his arm behind his back at a painful angle. Though Timothy could handle it easy enough, he began to wail in agony as his mother entered, trying immediately to get her to take his side. With his mother's blue eyes and frizzy orange hair mixed with a decent amount of freckles, he could play people like a harp if they didn't know him well enough.

"Mom! Make her let go! I didn't do anything!"

Freedom, sensing she was losing the momentum she had had, released her brother. Immediately he scurried behind his mother while adding a few gasp-sobs to the pitiful look. Her blue eyes blazed angrily as she watched her brother find refuge. Her short dark hair was still messy from waking up recently, it being only 7 in the morning.

Mrs. Dahwe knew that Freedom didn't usually attack Timothy without a reason, so she looked at her daughter with one raised eyebrow, waiting for the come back.

Freedom began at once. "He snuck into my room and took my diary, AGAIN!" Her tone rose as the memory became more and more vivid. "I've told him again and again to stay out of my room! But he never listens! And now I can't find it, which means that HE took it! This is why I keep asking you for a lock!" As she huffed and puffed her skin back to its normal tone she gazed demandingly at her mother, attempting to force the words 'Timothy, shame on you, get your sister's diary, your getting punished for this' out of her mother's mouth.

Mrs. Dahwe looked at her youngest expectantly, waiting to see his objections to this. But Timothy, realizing that Freedom was going to win this one, simply tried to look even more pitiful. She sighed, not at all pleased with her children's behavior. "Scott! Could you come here?"

Scott, her oldest, was a freshman in college and was still living with the family to make his finance needs a little easier. He also had his mother's curly orange hair, like Timothy. He had to wear contacts for his eyes, which were gray. "Yeah, mom?"

"Follow Timothy up to his room and get Freedom's diary, please."

Timothy trudged up the stairs behind his older brother. Freedom still watched him go with regret, wishing she had kicked him again before he had gotten out of range. In her peripheral vision she watched as her mom gazed at her, waiting patiently for her attention.

Knowing the battle wouldn't be won without losses Freedom turned wearily. Mrs. Dahwe looked at her shrewdly, figuring out what the punishment would be. "Starting today, your walking Timothy to school until the end of the week." She held up her hand as Freedom began to form a protest. "If you treat him like crap, I'll add more punishments. Got that?"

_Great, if she said crap, she's serious. _Freedom nodded, "Yes, mom." It was strained, but Mrs. Dahwe took it nonetheless.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Ryo and Retasu walked up to the new mew café, both feeling a bit nostalgic at the sight on an almost exact duplicate. "Thanks, Isaac. You out did yourself once again." Ryo complimented his friend, whom had worked his butt off the past couple weeks getting it to be as good as it was.

But Isaac merely smiled. "You sent the blue prints and details, I simply got it done for you." Lifting his hand to Ryo's face he jingled the little keys to the front, back, basement, office doors, and upper apartments. "And besides that, you pay good money." Dropping the keys in Ryo's hand, he said good-bye to Retasu and went back to his car.

The couple watched him go until he went around the corner and out of their line of sight. Mrs. Shirogane looked at her husband, "Shall we go in?"

The interior was also almost an exact duplicate of the last, though it was a little roomier now. Ryo walked directly over to the basement stairs and took out a key. With the smell of fresh sawdust tickling his nose, he walked down to the new lab. Isaac had also kindly taken the liberty to install his old computer (the builder had a knack for all trades), which was also the start-up for the mew project.

Ryo sighed dramatically. "Here we go again."

Retasu just smiled.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Free-dom! You have to walk slower! I can't go that fast!" Timothy shouted at his older sister, who was at the moment contemplating the chances she had of ignoring her mom's rule about attacking him and if she could still get away with it. "I'll tell mom!" he warned as she began to walk faster.

_Little creep._ She thought in annoyance. _It wouldn't matter what I threatened, that twerp's a tattletale through and through._

Timothy caught up with her as her pace slowed; they were only halfway to his school, _half_way! There was no way she'd make it to his school at their current pace without loosing her temper with him. _Conversation Freedom! Talk about neutral things!_ "Sooo, Timmy. How's school going for you?" She asked him, feeling very cliché.

He puckered his lips and narrowed his eyes so that they looked like he was pouting. "Mrs. Sanchez says I'm a disruption to the class."

_Mrs. Sanchez must be a very smart teacher. _"Really? How come?"

Timothy shrugged, "I don't know, she's really cranky. Rickie and me once glued a bunch of the tests together during recess, she got REAL mad. It was funny."

Freedom temporarily forgot she was supposed to be ticked at him. "Did she ever figure out it was you?"

His orange hair bounced as Timothy looked up to smile at her. "Nope!"

Freedom felt a momentary pride at her brother's sinister little ways.

He looked back at her. "You won't tell, right?" He forced his eyes to go wide, making him look as innocent as possible.

She groaned. "Fine, I promise not to tell, 'kay?" But quickly catching herself, added, "Only if you stay away from my diary!"

He gave her a big smile. "Okay!"

_Conniving twit._ She thought. He gave big smiles like that when he wanted to stay on her good side, then double cross her later. So he wouldn't keep his word, and she wouldn't keep hers, the world was back in order.

Her watch began to make erratic beeping noises. Glancing down, she saw that _her _school was going to start in 20 minuets. "Oh crap! Come on Timmy!" Freedom yelled over her shoulder as she made a full sprint to his school. "Hurry up! I'm gonna be late!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

_Click_. Ryo reached behind him for another switch. "Retasu? Can you hand me the yellow cord now?" As soon as his outstretched hand made contact with the thin wire his hand shot back into the main computer, flicking the cord into place and then working with the other various wires.

He stood up and glanced at his work. "All right, that should just about do it." He looked to the five new DNA injection's, waiting in their containers patiently. Ryo looked to his wife, "Ready?"

She gave him a curt nod. He looked back to the screen telling him it was ready to go. "Okay. New Mew Mew Project… commence!"

And with that, he pressed the button.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ah man! Why me?" Freedom managed to huff out as she ran down the street to her school. _2 more blocks…_ she kept telling herself, _2 more blocks, now 1.9-8 blocks… ugh!_ She couldn't seem to breathe fast enough to satisfy her leg muscle spasms, but a glance at her watch told her that she was just barely going to make it to the school on time.

If she kept up her pace.

_1._6 _more blocks, 1.5- _"Waaagh!" She had only enough time to see the ground become vividly detailed when she slammed against the pavement. Freedom had to admit she wasn't graceful, but she wasn't clumsy either. She tried to right herself to take the pressure off one of her smarting knees, but found she was wobbling too much and fell forward again. _She _was wobbling? People around her let out cries of surprise as they to swayed this way and that. _Oh dear Lord, you've got to be kidding me. An earthquake?! _"Why me?!" she yelled out. Buildings were rattling on their foundations, dogs barking in alarm and other people fell over.

Barely managing to steady herself back on her feet she looked around, though couldn't see clearly as the ground was being relentless. Suddenly a bright light lit up from behind her, she turned (and then re-fell) to see the giant stream of light waver then spread into 5 giant beams.

She was so fascinated by this display that she noticed a little too late that one of the beams was coming straight at her. "Holy-!" She shut her eyes in anticipation for the probable death that was about to take place.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Freedom opened her eyes to realize that she was still alive, or something like that. A warm orange light bathed her body generously, and she realized that not only were her clothes missing, but also she didn't mind in the least. In her peripheral vision she saw something large coming toward her. She turned unafraid and discovered a large cat walking towards her. _What in the world! A jaguar? No, those have spots… _The large predator continued its walk towards her, and then stopped a few paces away. _It's not a tiger… bobcat! No…_ The creature tilted its head at her, and Freedom could tell it was amused. Unafraid she walked up to it, kneeled down, and petted its head. _Wait! You're a cougar, aren't you? _It grinned at her, revealing sharp teeth, and without any warning pounced at her. But instead of impact, Freedom watched as the cat slid through her, _into_ her.

"What?" she stood there for a few more moments before the blinding light returned, and then everything went dark.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Freedom?"

_What? Who said that?_

"Freedom?"

_Hey! Quiet already! How am I supposed to sleep?!_

"Freedom!"

_What the heck?! Why can't I get some sleep before I have to go to- _"School!"

Freedom shot up like she was electrocuted. "Crap! What time is it?" She glanced around and realized she was still on the pavement where she had last fallen. "Crap! Crap crap crap crap CRAP!!" It took her less than a second to go in an all out sprint towards the school.

She would have done the track and field coach proud.

After what seemed like too long a time she rounded the corner to her school, huffing and puffing and feeling like she could barf. A glance at the school's giant clock told her she was 35 minutes late. Meaning she had about 10 minutes of first period left.

Freedom Dahwe, constant messer upper, was _toast_.

Fainting from exhaustion looked mighty friendly right now.

_What's my excuse going to be? _She had a mild memory of having the weirdest dream right before the earthquake- THE EARTHQUAKE! Of course! What better excuse than that of the weirdest time for the most unplaced natural disaster in history? Feeling lighter at her well-planned excuse, she walked into the school and down to her classroom (taking deep gasp-breaths all the way).

Walking into her first class (history) Freedom was immediately met by the insane eyes of Mr. Crank.

Yep, Crank.

Poor guy was only a total jerk to everyone because majority of the student body had to make fun of his name just to stay in their friends' good graces.

Freedom was no exception to the unwritten rule.

And they both knew it.

"Miss Da-ha-way." He incorrectly pronounced ominously. "And to what great honor due we owe your lack of good timing?" There it was, the hidden message of "give a good excuse or you're down the drain, and I mean _really_ good excuse".

Freedom stared back at him, and watched his eye twitch slightly. She was pleased; this meant his motivation was wavering. "I got knocked unconscious by the earthquake." At this point she had enough grace in her to try and look apologetic.

She expected sudden breakdowns of "oh dear"s and "I'm sorry, are you alright?"s. Instead she got Mr. Crank's face to go wide with astonishment, blink several times, and ask, "What?"

It wasn't a sympathetic "what", it was an "you just grew two heads and they keep hitting each other" what. Freedom got to get in some of her own bemuse blinks, a glance at the class said they (for once) were as clueless as their teacher.

"The earthquake? It happened, what, 5 minutes before school started up? _That _earthquake." It was Freedom's turn to waver in her confrontation.

Mr. Crank stood there a few more moments before his grumpiness came back.

With a vengeance.

"Dahwe! Here I thought the dumbest excuse was when Greg said his brother tied him to his bed and he was _conveniently_ captive just until the first bell rang."

Here my hearing picked up Greg's quiet outburst of "It's true!" and then being laughed at by a few of his friends.

Mr. Crank didn't even notice. "I don't know what anyone else is teaching you in this school, but that has to be the _worst _idea of an excuse ever! There have been no earthquakes here within yours, mine, or my father's generations that you could possibly shake and get knocked unconscious with!"

_Mayday! Mayday! Plan failing, HELP! _"B-but I'm serious!" Freedom thought about looking to the class for help, but decided to stay on Crank. "I _fell_! And those lights-" what had they been anyway? But there now, she had paused, and that was enough to ruin her bail.

"Detention!" Crankie said dangerously.

"But-"

"TWO detentions!!" He looked at Freedom, just waiting for her to mess up again.

Feeling utterly stupid and defeated, she trudged to her seat, trying hard to ignore the snickers escaping from around her.

**Yep. Feel free to pity her, I do (and I made her!). So there's Mew uno! Freedom Dahwe! Feel free to tell me what you think! (Or feel obligated, whatever motivates you to **_**write a ree-view**_**!) Well, that was forward. Till next time!**


	5. Hidden Threats

Welcome back

**Welcome back! I'd like to thank the kind people out there who've been reviewing for me, as it tickles me to know people are enjoying the story. So… you'll be meeting a few new characters in this chapter (their minors for the most part though, nothing big). Well, enjoy!**

"'Ey!"

Freedom glanced up from her lunch, a bit of the ranch coated salad sticking to her upper lip. "Hey Sarah. Hey Jon."

Sarah (whom previously spoke) was nothing that Freedom ever put with that name. She wore a tight tee to show off her natural curves and angles and wore ripped baggy pants. In total she had four pierces on her. Her hair had straight, perfect black highlights to match the natural silky blond. Her nickname was "Sass", as that made up a lot of her personality.

Jon, however, was as plain as the boys in Freedom's school came. His attire consisted of a clean white shirt with comfortable pants. He had black hair with gray eyes, and glasses, not emo glasses, or really nerdy glasses, just nice, simple glasses. Jon's arm wrapped comfortably around Sarah, who happened to be his girlfriend.

"So." Sarah removed herself from his grasp and plunked herself down at the lunch table. She studied Freedom for a moment, then dove in without hesitation. "I thought you said you didn't do drugs?"

_Oh Lord, not again!_ "Why the heck doesn't anyone know about that earthquake?!" Freedom watched as a bit of her salad sputtered out of her mouth, swallowed, and tried again. "I _swear_ to you Sarah, I. Am. Not. Lying."

"Drugs make you hallucinate."

"Arrgh!" Freedom tried to emphasize her frustration. "I don't do drugs!! You know that! No ones even offered them to me!"

Sarah shrugged.

As Jon sat down Freedom looked at him with as much pitiful-ness as she could muster.

It worked.

"Alright, tell it over from the beginning." He said kindly, causing Sarah to scoff.

Freedom did it obediently, rehearsing it in her mind first so she could scan it for anything that caused it to sound like she _was_ under the influence (she also forgot to mention the dream, as she vaguely remembered it even then). When she finished, she could tell that neither of them was really moved or that their thoughts had changed.

"What about getting hit by a car?" Jon offered. Before she could re-protest he added, "You said there was a blinding light, maybe the front of a vehicle? And all the screaming was from when you got hit and others saw it."

Freedom mused over this in her head but found it just didn't add up, she was _positive_, no, _beyond positive_ that it had been an earthquake. Her thinking was interrupted by Sarah, "So who the heck woke you up?"

The silence went by unnoticed in the crowded lunchroom. "You know," Freedom gazed intently at her milk carton, "I have no clue. I just freaked when I realized I was late…"

"Wait, it took you until _now_ to realize you didn't know who woke you up?" Sass's tone spoke volumes or her current thought of Freedom.

Finding nothing worth saying, Freedom simply chewed her food thoroughly.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Pai was enjoying himself. You wouldn't think he could, what with his friend in the hospital and earth being re-attacked, but he was very much happy. Despite the fact that he and his brother weren't very close, making all family affairs somewhat awkward, Pai had missed being around his brother (and other fellow Cyniclons) desperately.

He had been in the science labs for the last two days helping the scientists figure out how to unravel and reproduce the mew aqua, that is, when he wasn't checking in on Kisshu (who strangely still hadn't awakened despite the doctor claiming it to be nothing more than sleep). Though they couldn't copy all of the properties yet, they've had extensive progress, so much so that they were able to hand out a few copies for some of the livestock and the few plants that didn't thrive in the colonies group greenhouse. More importantly, they had been releasing samples to the hospital, which was having fewer patients by the hour.

Now Pai sat within the green house, letting his mind wander to where ever it took him.

Unfortunately the first place it took him was to his brother's chat after the general hubbub had decreased. The one thing he had never prepared for when he came home: marriage.

"You've exceeded beyond the colony's standards Pai," His brother Levern had said. "You come from a heritage designated to lead the Cyniclons, and you were the leader of the frontal attack towards earth. Yet you still have yet to choose a wife."

"And I never will." Pai had flatly replied.

"Pai," Levern had pressed, "You have more suitors than I ever did. Jiah's daughter Harmiku has-"

"No."

"Then what of Yasish? She's rather pretty-"

"No."

"Gaitra? Her family blossoms with tacticians-"

"No."

"Airyun! She's constantly helping out the colony, always busy-"

"No."

Levern's constant unemotional face had twitched into a frown. "Pai, despite the good you've done now for us, the colony is still brittle, our population is still slowly fading, this is not the time to be single."

Pai's face had remained a hard mask, save for his eyebrows brought together to show seriousness. "Brother, I understand your good intentions. But I DO NOT want to marry anyone I can't see myself with forever."

Levern had sighed in resignation, "Then who _can_ you see yourself with?"

He wouldn't answer, it was hard enough that he _did_ have feelings for someone earth-born, but the thought of _marriage_ to her would have sent ruin to his brother.

_Besides_, he presently thought, _I saw her by his side, she loves another._ The image of Lettuce leaning into the screen as Pai contacted Ryo, her hand delicately baring a gold band with a sparkling diamond, blocked all other thoughts from his mind. She still looked at him with that same concern she had had for him, even when he was going to kill her whole team. _I would willingly stand by _her _side for all the rest of eternity_. He thought wistfully. Yet even if it would have been possible for him, she still loved Ryo, a _much _better suitor for her. _After all, _he's _human._

Pai sighed unhappily, so much for being in a good mood.

But really, things couldn't get much worse then what they were, which consisted of Kish being hurt from an attack (forget what Geberot thinks), fellow Cyniclons (whom they still haven't found the identity to) taking the ship to try and destroy earth, and him having to get _married_.

"Pai!"

Glancing over to see whom the voice belonged to he saw Levern running towards him. At first he thought it might be again about Pai's _single _factor, but the look on Levern's face suggested otherwise.

"Pai! Someone's tried to kill Kisshu!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Finally!" Freedom shouted to no one in particular. The sun was setting now, and she was _just _leaving the schoolyard. Stupid Mr. Crank had found it even more amusing to have her serve the detentions both in one day. _I hate that man. _She thought darkly. Had it been one detention, she might have been able to make up a decent excuse to her mom, like talking to friends or looking in some of the shops on the way home. But _4 hours after school_?

She'd be lucky if she didn't get grounded for this.

_Maybe I'll take a detour in the park._ She mused. _Maybe I can come up with somehow getting lost in there and then _just _find part of it that I recognize. Then I'll head home, act like I was scared, look pitiful, get grace for being late, and then be off the hook!_

Quickly agreeing to her plan she turned sharply and made her way through. A few moms and kids were on the playground yet, with the occasional jogger running around. Freedom looked over to the basketball court and saw a few kids drawing with chalk. As she walked by she momentary looked at what they were drawing.

A sun.

Two cars.

"Calleene Rules!".

A lion saying "rawr!".

A lion. Cat. Cougar! Suddenly the dream came vividly back to her, why hadn't she remembered it before? And it was such a weird dream too… "Oh well!" she said out loud. Without a backward glance she headed toward one of the nature trails.

The sun could create the most beautiful sceneries, as it was doing right then. Green leaves were sprayed with an array of gold and orange as the sun left and the night sky rose. Dancing seed helicopters flew towards the earth gently with the small breeze. She couldn't help but marvel at God's creation.

"Hey! Freedom!"

"Huh?" She had been so focused on the trees she hadn't seen who was coming towards her. It was a boy her age, with dark brown hair and intense green eyes. He was wearing jogging clothes that had by now gotten pretty sweaty. His name was Esmond, which had to be the weirdest name Freedom had yet to encounter. Him and she had gone through grade school together, but he never bloomed into more than a friend for her.

"Freedom, hi!" He slowed down until he was next to her and immediately started walking beside her. "How are you feeling?"

She groaned inwardly, she had seen him very little since the beginning of the year, as he had skipped a grade this year, but was it possible that even _he _had heard about the whole "there was an earthquake" (which darn-it-all there had been!) thing? "Look, before you even ask, I am _not _doing drugs!"

Esmond's eyebrows shot up. "What now?"

"Uh…" Freedom decided that was the worst answer she could have given him. "I feel fine, except that _no one _believes me." She looked down and glared at an offensive helicopter seed that happened to blow in her path. "It felt like and earthquake. I mean, what else could shake me to the ground?"

"Earthquake?"

She looked back to him. "You know, what everyone in school's been making fun of me about today?"

He shook his head wryly. "Unfortunately, I hadn't heard that tidbit today."

_Great, I told him something I didn't want him to know, _brilliant_. _"Oh…" Freedom looked back at the ground and discovered _two_ offensive helicopter seeds to glare at. "Wait," she looked back to him, "what'd you mean then by 'how I'm feeling'?"

Esmond smiled sheepishly. "Well, you had been lying on the pavement sleeping earlier today. I woke you up but you bolted yelling 'school!' and 'crap!' so I never got the chance to ask what was wrong."

She blinked at him several times. "That was _you_? Why weren't _you _in school? You're never late!"

"My mom called the office beforehand for me."

_The world is full of injustice these days_, She thought bitterly.

"So you _are _feeling better now, right?" Esmond asked again.

"Yeah, much better." _If you exclude the 35-minutes late, the total humiliation due to everyone else's stupidity, and _2 _detentions, yeah, my day was _swell_! _

With Freedom thinking darkly and Esmond unconsciously watching her every move, neither happened to see that they were being spied on.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Yakuro had sent his friends out to scout about the city, but _he _was the one who would commence the first attack.

He had to somewhat admit to himself it wasn't big enough to be called an attack, perhaps merely an experiment of the human's reactions to a small dosage of their power. But whatever it was rightfully meant to be called, he was lusting to begin it.

_Calm down, _he told himself scathingly. _I can't be over eager about this, if I'm not in control, mistakes will happen._ But how badly Yakuro wanted to let go sometimes! Just to show these people his power, to show he was to be feared and respected by all! He smiled as he imagined the leader begging him for mercy and signing over the planet to him. _Part of the planet,_ Yakuro reminded himself, _they lust for power too, and divide the planet among themselves in order to obtain it._

As he was flying over a park he was looking for the perfect recipients for the test. _Women are far too predictable,_ he mused as he looked at some mother's bringing their children off the playground and back to their dwellings. He didn't want to attack a solitary figure, since it would only prove what only one person would do. Finally Yakuro found his perfect (as perfect as the human race would get) testers. _A couple, _he inwardly smirked. It was two adolescent humans, a tall boy with brown hair and a slightly smaller girl with cropped light black hair. Clearly they were at the prime mating age for the species. His mind flooded with the possibilities. _In panic, would the male abandon his female companion, or defend her? If the female goes on the attack, how effective would it be? Are they capable to think logically during the attack or move solely on instinct?_

He slowly moved in on them. It seemed that it wasn't quite a couple, they just didn't move like that. Nor did it exactly appear like a courting. But when the female wasn't looking, the male would watch her every move. _So the male _wants _to court her, interesting._

He glanced around as he took out the fusion anima, trying to find the perfect creature to morph it with. Finally Yakuro's gaze fell on a small squirrel skittering from tree to tree.

"Perfect." He murmured.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"So…" Esmond mused. "Um, Freedom. I was wondering, I haven't seen you that much this year, but maybe me and you could hang-"

Suddenly an ear-shattering screech erupted from behind the two.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ryo! The scanners detected alien activity!" Retasu blundered her way up the stairs to find her husband. It was all happening so quickly now. Hadn't they just that morning infused 5 young girls? She hated to admit it, but it was a good thing they had done it so hastily, especially if the Cyniclons were attacking already. "Ryo!" she called out again.

"Retasu?" she found her husband unpacking the new chairs for the café, which were duplicates of their old ones. "What is it? Have the Cyniclons made their move?" His voice rose with his last question, and his eyes followed suit as his wife nodded in affirmation. "Where?!"

"The neighborhood park, it's not too far from here."

"Hurry to the car, I'll lock up."

Mrs. Shurogane ran full-speed to the car, just barely getting buckled into the passenger side before her husband jumped in. _It's all happening so fast._ She thought again.

"Do you know what's going on exactly?" Ryo asked as he dangerously sped around neighborhood corners (Retasu hoped the local policeman were on coffee break).

"I was just walking past the room when I heard your computer beeping. All I know is they've created a chimera animal." Catching her breath after an illegal turn (and almost getting hit by a car) she added. "There was a light blinking near it, but I didn't understand what that one was."

Ryo came to a squealing halt next to a "do not park" sign and jumped out. "Well that's good news." He called back to Retasu as they made their way into the park. "It sounds like we've found our first mew!"

An attempted murder, a crushing boy, and a creepy scream echoing in your mind until I add the next chapter. Ha! Well, I hope you reply, because that'd REALLY make my day (hint hint)!


	6. What just happened?

Hey

**Hey! Welcome back! So last time I just left you on the verge of a fight and possible murder. I hope you enjoy this chapter (and I admit, I'm focusing on Freedom more than our favorite 3 aliens, but I'll work on it!).**

"Aaaaaahhhhhh!" Was the first thing out of Freedom's mouth. Had she been feeling more rational she might have managed a "Dear Lord!" or "Sweet Mother of-", but all she could direct through her mouth was a girly, high-pitched scream.

Had Esmond not also been feeling irrational he would have been amazed by Freedom's vocal capacity.

Both of them stood momentarily frozen as a giant _squirrel-thing _burst from the woods. Freedom could only guess that it was related to a squirrel, but being 10 feet tall and having purple spiky fur, she wasn't sure it was even an animal.

Esmond was the first to respond, "Run Freedom!" He shoved her to turn around, but she didn't need any more help than that, she was the _queen_ of adrenaline sprinting. Esmond was right behind her, she could feel it by his hot breath on her back, but all she could hear was the amplified-by-fear growls coming from the _thing's_ very pointy-toothed mouth.

Unknown to them, Yakuro levitated above, watching the two panicked teens with interest. "Oh no you don't." he said quietly, silently ordering the creature.

A shadow passed over Freedom without her notice, so she was very surprised when the creature was abruptly before her, baring its teeth in a most unnerving way.

"Freedom!" In seconds Esmond jumped in front of her, blocking the creature from it initial prey. He picked up a sizable branch from the ground and waved it warningly in front of him. "Freedom! Run home! Get help!"

_Okay! _Was the first thing to penetrate her chaotic cranium, but her body refused to move. All she could really think of was: _Giant attacking squirrel! Pointy teeth pointy teeth pointy teeth!!_

Yakuro looked down at the two beings. "It's been fun, but the test is over." He glanced at the squirrel and mentally ordered it to attack.

The creature swung back it's paw toward Esmond, who tried to defend himself with the stick in vain. The swing threw him against a nearby tree.

Hard.

Dropping to the ground with a moan he fell unconscious. The creature skittered over and grabbed him in its massive claw, drawing him closer and closer to the razor sharp teeth.

"Esmond!" acting on instinct Freedom grabbed a sizable pebble and chucked it at the thing. With horrific satisfaction it hit the creature in the eye. It Squealed and shrieked in agony, flinging its victim into the air and away from it. Freedom's heart sank; it had flung him too high! A fall like that would kill him! "No!" she cried.

Then everything happened fast.

Esmond was falling to the earth, and then he wasn't. She had caught nothing more than a blonde streak jump from tree to tree where he had been falling. "Esmond!" Freedom cried out again, this time completely confused. Then something grabbed her from behind and pulled her into the trees, temporarily making her resort to shrieking (which you couldn't really hear over the agonized squirrel anyway).

She was whipped around to stare face to face with a green haired older woman. "Are you alright?" She asked.

"Esmond!" Freedom erratically pointed to where he had been.

"Don't worry, he's safe for now. Dear, are you hurt?"

Freedom's mind blankly processed this and nodded. Esmond was all right. Everything was fine now.

"What's your name?" she asked hurriedly.

"Freedom… Dahwe."

"Freedom, listen to me very carefully. You've been chosen to do something very important, now, I need you to go and fight that monster."

…_WHAT?! _"WHAT? Are you insane?!"

"Please," the woman looked at her earnestly. "I know it's a little frightening-" _A _little_?! _Freedom's mind screamed. "-but you have to do this! If you don't, other people like your friend might get hurt!"

That stopped Freedom; others might get hurt? She thought about the kids she had seen just a little before with their mother's. If she left now, the freaky thing might harm them.

Or worse.

She gulped deeply as she re-tuned in the creatures screams, listening to the thing somewhat blindly look for where it's prey had gone. "Fight it?" she said weakly.

"Here, use this. It'll help you." The green-haired girl pressed something into her palm. Looking down, she saw a metal pendant with an abstract elegant design in pink on it. _You're kidding._ Freedom looked into the woman's eyes and saw she wasn't. "Go!" the lady urged.

_I'm dead, I'm dead, I am sooo dead._ Was all Freedom could think as she stepped back onto the path. "Hey! You… you ugly jerk! Over here!" _Wow, do _I _know how to insult someone, or what? _

Yakuro was getting a little annoyed, first the boy had disappeared after the girl had wounded his creation, and then she disappeared too! His creature only half paid attention to his orders as it tried hard to make its blinded eyeball both work and stop hurting (rubbing its claw in its eye wasn't helping either).

"Hey! You… you ugly jerk! Over here!"

He looked over to find the girl had returned, though why was beyond him. She was trembling like a leaf in a squall, but she was holding her ground. _She plans to fight my creature? Interesting. _Yakuro pointed out the girl's location and ordered the attack, curious to see what the tiny girl would do.

_I'M DEAD I'M DEAD I'M DEAD! _Freedom didn't know what had possessed her to believe that woman. She was probably crazy! But in the back of her mind she could see the little kids getting attacked by the creature, separated from their mother's protecting arms as the creature grabbed them and brought them to its mouth.

"I won't allow you to harm anyone else! For your sins, you'll pay!" _For it's sins? What am I, a priest?_

The squirrel snorted before lunging at her, but a bright, pale light stopped what would have been a killing blow.

Above Yakuro watched in disbelieve as the girl became engulfed in a tremendous burst of energy. His creature reared up and shied away in panic as some of the light fell on it. _What is this?! _He could tell it was powerful; he could _feel_ the power as it wrapped around her, _becoming_ her.

Freedom herself was confused by it all. She recognized the sensation she was feeling from when she had had that strange dream. _What's going on? _As the light receded she saw that her clothes had changed, though she really hadn't felt a thing. A cute orange dress clung comfortably to her figure. She wore stretchy but sturdy slip-ons with light orange ribbons in place of her worn out tennis shoes. Her pendant had gone from her hand to her neck on some kind of puffy choke collar. The same material was used just below her shoulders as removable sleeves and one on her right thigh. Though this was all shocking, it wasn't what she noticed at first.

She somehow knew that her ears had moved, but when she went to feel why they had gone to the top of her head, she felt fur. _Oh… my…_ It took her less than a second to realize they were animal ears. The shock made her jump, and she realized along with the new set of ears, she had a tail that was currently sticking straight in the air in alarm. "What the heck? Am I some kind of dog?!" _No! _Freedom realized, _I'm a cougar! _

She didn't have much time to ponder the new development as the giant critter was coming back at her. It took a giant swipe at her. Her feet acted immediately and before she knew it, she was jumping over its outstretched arm. _High _over it's outstretched arm. Looking down at the 15-foot difference between her and the ground she closed her eyes to wait and feel the crunch of her bones.

To her surprise her body reacted once again, calmly turning her in midair and having her land lightly on her tip-toes. The monster made another lunge at her and she skipped out of range.

"Freedom! You have to attack it!" The Green woman called to her.

"Attack? How?!" she replied, dodging left and right from the purple-squirrels erratic sweeps.

A blond head appeared next to the woman's. "Use your weapon!"

"What weapon?" she yelled back. But even as the words left her mouth, new ones formed in her mind and began to fall from her mouth. The creature lunged just as she called out the words "STAR BELL!"

She raised her hand in the air without thinking and watched as bright pricks of light appeared and collected to form a large hollow star with a bell dangling in the middle. With a shout she aimed it at the creature so she had a perfect picture of it coming at her with its gaping mouth. Before she knew what was happening a giant light blasted from the small area within the star and surrounded the creature. With a terrific roar it slowly shrunk and dissolved until only a glowing jellyfish and very beat up squirrel remained. **(I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to all animal lovers!!)**

From high above Yakuro watched in shock. He had prepared for almost anything, anything except a _mew_. _Why are the bloody Tokyo-freaks here? Aren't they retired? _Despite his anger, he knew better. He had scanned and identified all the mews, he knew that none of them had been orange, there had been one with cat DNA like this one, but it was pink. _So it's a new mew?_ A grin spread on his face. _Looks like taking over will be more worthwhile than we anticipated. _Yakuro teleported off to tell his friends of this new development, already plotting his next move.

"You did it Freedom!" The green haired woman jumped out and ran to the girl, who was standing like she didn't know what else to do, carefully holding the weapon away so it wouldn't misfire at her.

"Esmond…?" she said urgently.

"He's right here, Freedom." The blond head she had seen before came out to reveal a full-grown man carrying Esmond's limp body. "He just got roughed up a bit, but he'll be fine, nothing more than a couple bruises."

Freedom let out a sigh of relief. So it was going to be okay then, the monster was gone, and Esmond really was fine. She looked back and forth between the two adults, who seemed to be studying her. "Who are you anyway?"

"Ryo Shirogane," the blond-head offered, he turned to the woman, "and this is my wife, Retasu Shirogane."

"Okay…" She wasn't sure what to do with this information. She looked to Mrs_. _Shirogane, "How'd you—I mean, you knew—"

"That you would turn into a mew mew?" she offered gently.

"Yeah… that." _Mew-mew? What the heck is that? _"How did you know?"

The two looked at one another, as if silently debating to tell her. "Look," said the blond, what was his name? Rio? "This has probably been a big day for all of us, and since its so late—"

Something in Freedom's mind suddenly clicked. _LATE! Oh-my-gosh!_ "Oh crap, dear Jesus I'm LATE! Mom's going to kill me! _I'm _going to kill me!" Without a backward glance at the two stunned adults she bolted down the path.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"She's more like Ichigo than we thought." Retasu smiled knowingly, watching the girl become nothing more than a distant shadow.

"Terrific." Ryo said sarcastically, "Now, out of curiosity, what do I do with this guy?" He held up Esmond, who still didn't look like he was waking up soon.

Retasu blinked, "Oh, she forgot all about him."

Ryo sighed, "Well, I suppose we'll just wait until he comes to…"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The first thing Esmond thought of as he was waking up was he didn't recall going home the night before, the second was that he felt rather sore just about everywhere.

The third was remembering everything that had happened.

"Freedom!" He bolted upright; ready to run to her side and praying that the monster hadn't already eaten her. To Esmond's surprise instead of a rampaging monster he found two adults looking down at him.

"Hey, kid, you okay?" Asked one of them, a blond man with blue eyes.

"Do you know where Freedom is? The—" his voice caught at the thought, "the monster didn't eat her, right?"

"Monster?" the man gave Esmond a demeaning look. "Kid, your friend, Freedom was it? We found you and her getting mugged by some guy in a stupid purple costume. He ran off after we threatened to call the cops, and then your friend's mom showed up and took her home. In the rush, we didn't ask how to contact your parents, so how 'bout we get to that now. Where do you live? Do you want a ride or can you call your parents so they'll get you?"

Esmond sat up slowly. He had seen it, was it really some guy in a stupid costume? It had _looked _real enough. He thought about this and realized how dumb it sounded. A _monster_? Really, he was smarter than that. "So, Freedom's okay? She wasn't hurt or anything, right?"

The man's companion, a green-haired girl, piped up. "She was a little shaken up, and rather worried about you," She smiled shyly. "But don't worry, she wasn't harmed at all."

He let out a sigh. "Phew, well, that's a relief."

The blond man cleared his throat as he held out a cell phone.

"Oh, er, I'll walk home, if that's alright." He carefully brought himself to stand up.

Blondie shrugged. "Suit yourself."

"Um, thank-you for your help." Esmond reached his hand out to the man's, who reluctantly shook it. He bowed to the woman (who blushed slightly) and turned on his heal.

When he got home, he gave his mom a story about meeting up with some friends and going out to eat, and only regretted that he hadn't been able to ask Freedom what he had been going to ask.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Taruto looked up from Kish's bedside to discover Pai and Levern rushing in past the doctors that had blocked most of the doorway.

"What happened?" Pai demanded, his gaze unnerving a nearby doctor.

"W-Were not sure." He babbled. "The sensors sky-rocked then went blank. By the time we got here…"

"Someone had injected him with experimental liquids, from the community labs most likely." Issus inserted quickly, who stood near Taruto. "Fortunately they were able to get it out of his system with a more powerful dose of the mew aqua, but we're not sure if there'll be anymore side effects to this."

Taruto found himself sympathizing with Pai. He looked weary, which was to be expected, he had been working almost the whole time and relaxing very little. "Good news though, Pai!" he said with a smile. "The dose of mew aqua's bringing Kish around."

Pai's face immediately relaxed from the tension he had been feeling. "There's something, at least."

"At least we'll get answer's finally as to what's going on." Issus murmured somewhat disgruntled. "Once we have identities to the thieves, we can move on to apprehending them before they cause something unfixable to occur."

Taruto's ears twitched as a groan came from his friend. "Hey! I think he's coming to!"

Levern and Issus backed away to give Pai and Taruto room with their friend.

Kisshu's eyes squinted tight and another groan escaped before he slowly opened his eyes. He glanced back and forth between the anxious doctors and his friends. "What's going on?"

"Kish, listen, can you hear me alright?" Issus looked intently at his grandson until the confused alien nodded. "Who took the ship? Who was it?"

Kisshu's face appeared confused for a bit, then realization dawned on him. "I can't remember!"

The intent crowd lost their momentum. "What?" Pai simply asked.

"I teleported into the ship, but that's all I got before waking up in front of you guys."

The room was completely quiet.

"Crud." Pai spat.

**Well, Kish didn't die. But they still haven't got a clue as to who took the ship. And then there's Freedom running off leaving her unconscious friend with the Shiroganes, wonder if she'll at all remember that she forgot him? It might take a while for the next one, but I promise that it'll be a good next chapter, I want to get Freedom hired at café mew mew and looking for her fellow, well, mews. Review good peoples, review!!**


	7. Plans and Suprises

Man, it's hard to write all these

**Man, it's hard to write all these. K, so I didn't do all I wanted in this chapter, but I didn't want to overwhelm either, hopefully the next two chapters will be more… actiony? Recap: Mew Freedom finished off her first monster, then ran home and completely forgot about the Shiroganes and Esmond, then Kish woke up and found he couldn't remember what had happened. AND… GO!**

Kisshu walked behind his friends in silence, which was completely unlike him. The doctor's had found that he had lost some of his memory due to the unstable chemicals that were in him before, and now the more recent events in his life had a few gaps in them.

Pai, who was walking just in front, had been so frustrated that no one had gone near him for the first few hours of Kisshu's recovery (except for one doctor, whom he strangled unconscious, and then his brother, who got him to stay in his room until he cooled off).

Taruto (who was floating down the hall so he could be at the same height as the others), had been frustrated, but more at Kisshu than anyone else. The moment Kish woke up; he bounced right back do normal. 'I was worried about you, you idiot! You can't just wake up and be all happy-day about life!' but Kisshu had simply stated, with a fanged smile 'Of course I can!'. Taruto was in a black mood for awhile.

They had luckily found that if they talked about the moments that Kisshu had forgotten, his mind found the memory again. But it still didn't solve the problem, seeing no one had been with Kisshu when he had seen the high-jackers. They'd tried over and over, but Kish couldn't get any farther than when he had teleported on.

"So… where are we going?" Kisshu asked Pai.

The tall alien sighed. "To the labs, we need to see how the scientists are doing with the mew aqua."

"Oh…" Kish glanced in a window that showed the green room, he missed the real green on earth, where it didn't have to sit behind glass all day to grow right. "What about the ship?"

Pai's eyebrow twitched; he had unfortunately forgotten what it was like to have Kisshu around. Now that he was back, Pai missed the unconscious version of him terribly.

Kisshu leaned in on Pai. "Heelloooo…?"

"The ship's frame is still in the process of being built, we can't do anymore than that right now."

Kish got tired of walking and glided in the air to keep up. "But I want to go back to earth _now_! What if Ichigo forgets me? I miss my Ichigo!" He glanced at his younger friend. "And Taruto's getting crankier by the second since he hasn't been able to see his monkey girlfriend."

"Kish…" Pai warned, but Taruto was already yelling in protest once again.

"I told you she IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND! You're so obnoxious! I don't know why I was worried about you!" Taruto smacked Kisshu in the back of the head.

"Ow! All right! All right! I'll be quiet!"

The trio continued down the hallway towards the labs.

"Did the Cyniclons attack earth yet?"

"Kisshu!" his friends groaned. Kish smiled, it was good to be back with them.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Freedom! Phone's for you!"

Freedom looked up from her diary at the sound of her mom's call, her hand quickly reaching for the portable phone on her desk, "Got it!" Freedom was currently confined to her room for the rest of the weekend as punishment for yesterday's mishap (for being somewhere without her mother's knowledge for 5-ish hours). Despite the punishment, she was more than relieved that her mom had calmed down from how she had been the evening before. The memory made her shudder slightly. "Hello?" she called into the receiver.

"Hello again, Freedom." A masculine voice came from the other line.

"Do I know you?"

"This is Ryo Shirogane, you might have forgotten, you left me with your boyfriend last night in a panic."

"Oh!" Freedom felt the blush creep into her skin. "I, uh, I hadn't meant to do that, really… hey! He's not my boyfriend!"

"Listen," he said, completely ignoring her. "Is anyone else listening to this line?"

"Uh… I don't think so, why?"

"Did you tell anyone that you had turned into a mew mew?"

_Of course not, idiot!_ She mentally yelled. _They already think I'm crazy with my 'earth-quake' talk!_ "No, why?"

"You can't let anyone know that you can turn into a mew, it'd be dangerous to you and whomever you told." Freedom listened as he mumbled something away from the telephone like "Could you put the recipe books on the counter?" before he started talking to her again. "I'd like you to meet me at a new café I own."

"Why?"

"You probably have a lot of questions, right?"

_Duh! _"Yeah."

"Plus you'll have to start working here."

"What?! Why?"

"Freedom, stop asking 'why', if no ones told you, it's rather annoying."

"Hey, you know what, buster?" _Did I just say 'buster'?_ "Because of you, I'm grounded for the rest of the weekend in my room. I'm also _lying_ to my mother because she'd send me to the crazy house if I told her that I turned into a part-cat-superhero! And maybe, just _maybe_, I don't want to work in your stupid café!"

There was silence on the other end for a few moments, and Freedom thought he had cut the connection when she had started to ramble, but finally he said, "Let me talk to your mother."

"Why?"

"Freedom."

"Yeah yeah," she craned her neck toward her door, "MOM! Some g—um, Mr. Shirogane wants to talk to you!"

From below came a muffled, "Who's Mr. Shirogane?"

"Uh, he owns a café."

Her mother's clipped business voice came from the phone. "I got it honey, you can hang up now."

Freedom punched the 'OFF' button and set down the phone, aching to ease drop on the conversation but also trying not to get into anymore trouble.

A few minuets later her mother came in the doorway. "Mr. Shirogane explained to me your previous appointment, so you can go see about the job, but I want you back right away after the interview."

Mrs. Dahwe unfortunately set the phone down and turned too soon to see her daughter gawk in utter astonishment. Freedom couldn't tell if she wanted to continue to ignore the Ryo guy, or take advantage of the miraculous leniency her mother had just given. _How'd he do that?_

Her hearing finally tuned in the muffles still coming from the phone. She picked it up. "Hello?… Hey! Freedom?…" came Ryo's voice from the other end.

"How'd you do that? She totally believed you!" she couldn't hide the astonished respect out of her tone.

"Your welcome." He stated bluntly, quickly giving her his address. "It's about a fifteen minute walk from your house, so hurry up." With that initial end the line died.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"What'd you just say?" Tyrais shouted. Lentro and Xakiteu kept quiet, but felt initially the same. "Come on," Tyrais leaned in on Yakuro, who was going red with embarrassed fury, "say it again; say the _one_ thing that could throw all our plans down the drain!"

"Like we can't handle a new mew!" Yakuro shot back.

"It beat your creature didn't it?"

"It hadn't been designed to take down something strong!"

"Just admit you messed up BIG time, you idiot!"

"What did you call me?!"

"Hey." A dagger was thrust between the quarreling Cyniclons. Lentro looked towards Yakuro, "Get a hold of yourself, blowing up at Tyrais isn't going to help." He looked to their raven haired companion, "Do you think goading our leader is the best thing we can do right now?"

Tyrais turned and stomped off with a muttered "yes".

Xakiteu looked toward Yakuro, his red eyes flashing with inner frustration. "They had 5 mews last time, right? Should we assume that there isn't just one?"

"No, there'll definitely be more to come," Yakuro felt like denting something, but didn't want to show such weakness in front of his comrades, "we just have to find them before they join up with the new team."

"So who is the new mew?" Tyrais asked, now back from her tantrum.

Yakuro frowned slightly. "I'm not sure yet _who _she is. But if anything, she's completely inexperienced and doesn't know how to fight at all."

Lentro reclined in mid-air, idly juggling his daggers in the air one-handed. "Are we going to have to tell Geberot about this?"

Everyone looked at Yakuro, who stared stone-faced at the ground. "We'll only do it if we have to." Everyone nodded in agreement.

"So," Xakiteu asked warily, "do we have a plan?"

Yakuro grinned.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Pink.

That was all she could think as she looked on at the café. Pink, and girly. She had somehow pictured it to be more similar to a Starbucks or something, but _this_? Freedom stood at the open gate completely motionless, not quite remembering why she was there in the first place.

"Freedom! Welcome to Café Mew Mew!" Came a voice from the café door, Freedom looked to find Mr. Shirogane's wife standing at the entrance. Retasu walked over with a genuine smile on her face. "I'm glad we were able to have you come over. So, what do you think?"

"Uh…" Freedom looked the building over again. "It… definitely attracts the passer-bys attention."

Retasu's smile widened, "I know what you mean, we've had several visits already, and it's not even opened yet."

"So, is your husband here?" Freedom asked, finally coming out of her stupor.

She nodded cheerfully, "He's still putting some of the tables up; we haven't completely gotten it ready yet."

"Can I help?" she asked automatically.

Retasu grinned again, "Certainly, you can help me in the kitchen until he's ready."

_Darn, I hate kitchen work._ "Okay!" Freedom returned the grin, already liking Mrs. Shirogane, er, Retasu.

The interior was even more mind bottling than the outside. Not one item in the shop rang of normalcy. _Even the cash register is girly!_ She thought, eyeing the purple machine covered in sparkles. _How does her husband stand it? _Retasu nudged her gently to get her attention. "It's just over here." She walked through two swinging doors with heart-shaped windows. Taking one last glance at her unnatural surroundings, Freedom followed after her. The kitchen, she was relieved to find, was modeled more for efficiency than anything else. Retasu waved her over to the far side, where a bunch of new (and girly) dishes and utensils sat around in boxes. "Could you help me open these?" She asked.

"Sure thing." Freedom and Retasu sat for a while in silence opening the boxes and stacking things up around the counter. After that they took each set of items in turn and cleaned them up in the dishwasher. Since there was nothing to do but wait until next load, Freedom wandered around the kitchen (after all, she was apparently going to work there). She found some recipe books on the far side of the room. "Whoa!" she breathed, looking at the intricate cakes and sweets within the books. "This is what you're making?"

"And what you'll be serving."

Freedom glanced up at Ryo as he came in, resisting the urge to scowl. _Who does the guy think he is? My master?_ "You know, I haven't decided if I'll work here or not."

He gave her a look that practically spoke for him: Oh yes you will. "Follow me, please." He looked over to his wife, his eyes warming at the sight of her. "If you're not busy, Retasu, would you like to come as well? You might be able to answer some of her questions better than me." Freedom glanced back to the blushing woman and wondered what exactly he meant by that.

They walked down a hallway past the kitchen to a set of stairs leading down. When they reached the bottom Freedom found a room covered from tile to ceiling with computers and other most likely expensive equipment. "Wow."

Ryo smiled faintly at the comment, but quickly turned serious again. "All right, Freedom." He went over and sat himself down at one of his computers. "You came here to ask some questions, I'm sure, so what are they?"

Freedom looked back and forth between the two, who had somewhat gone solemn. What could she ask them? Well, first things first. "Was Esmond okay?"

Ryo looked annoyed by the question. "Yes. He woke up and then went home (though not before bombarding us to make sure you were okay), anything else?"

"Yeah." She replied just as curtly. "How did you know I would be what-ever-the-heck I was?"

"Mew mew?" Retasu questioned.

"That." Freedom affirmed.

"All we had to do was wait for your powers to surface, then it was easy for us to track you down. We didn't actually know it was going to be _you_ until that happened." Ryo stated.

"Okay, but _why _did I turn into a mew?" _It's not like I had a health class on this._

"Well, that was mainly our doing." Ryo admitted. "We needed to find a certain genetic component strand in an array of people, and then bring down the choices to whoever had it the strongest. We didn't actually know exactly _who_ was picked, but we zeroed the injections in on only one certain type, then the injections themselves picked the best candidate for it."

Freedom stood there dumbly. _Huh? Could you repeat that? _"Wait!" she went back to what he said first. "_You're the_ reason I turned into a freak? And I didn't get a say in this? What happened to my rights! This is America for pity's sake!"

"When the world's safety is on the line, you don't get choices."

"Oh come _on_." Freedom felt her temper rise with her indignation. "'The world's safety', are you serious?"

"You saw the creature for yourself yesterday, you tell me."

Freedom thought back to the giant thing, with its pointy teeth and freakish appearance. "Fine. But why work here?"

"Think of 'here' as a base for our operations."

Freedom pursed her lips. "Am I the only one working here?"

"Well, only temporarily." Retasu interjected. "As soon as we locate the other girls, they'll be working here with you."

Freedom blinked a few times, feeling slightly shocked. "There are _more _people like me?"

"Four more, to be exact." Ryo stated firmly. "The old team didn't require more, and I don't think we will either."

"Old team?"

"Yes, Tokyo Mew Mew." Retasu smiled at the fond memory of her old companions. "I was apart of that team."

Freedom looked at her in surprise; she didn't seem like the fighting type. "Were you the leader?"

Retasu looked taken aback. "Oh good heavens no! I was too quiet for anything like that. Our leader had been a girl named Ichigo, you remind me of her somewhat."

_I remind her of some girl named Ichy-go? Who'd name their kid that?! _"So, how do we find these other girls?"

Ryo leaned back in his chair. "After work and school hours, you'll be looking for them on the streets, while I watch for any sign of activity from them here." He pointed to the large computer screen.

He got up suddenly and lunged at Freedom's feet. "Hey! What the heck?!"

He pointed to her ankle. "You see this?" Freedom bent down to find she now had a little tattoo (or was it a birthmark?) that looked like a star with cute designs surrounding it.

"What is it?" _'Cause I SWEAR I never went and got a tattoo! _

"It's how you tell that you have mew powers." Ryo turned and went back to his chair. "The other four will have similar ones, somewhere on their bodies."

"Now," he glanced up at a clock behind Freedom. "Your mother will be expecting you home soon." Retasu got up and walked over to him with a nicely wrapped box and papers in her hands. "Here," he handed them to Freedom. "The papers are your work schedule, certain rules that apply while working here, and an application form. The box holds your uniform. I expect you here tomorrow at 1:00 to help us get the shop ready for the grand opening, which is Monday afternoon."

"But tomorrow's Sunday!" Freedom protested, not wanting her weekend taken away from her.

"You want to sit in your room all day?" Ryo inquired, his eyes gleaming like a cat when it corners a mouse.

"Oh, uh…" she had forgotten about that.

"Again, 1:00pm, be here."

She sighed in exasperation. "Yes, sir." _You conniving evil ruler! _With Retasu's guidance she exited the building and headed back home. "That jerk." She muttered darkly to herself. _Why the heck am I agreeing to this?! I don't have to! I could just… _Just what? She asked herself. _Go up to my mom and say "Hey, the truth is, some random guy changed me into this part-animal superhero thing. And now he says I have to save the world _and_ work for him, could you maybe do something about that?" _Or she could go to the police. _But they'd just chuck me in the next open cell and call a psychiatrist._

Freedom had been so wrapped in her thoughts (plus she couldn't see well with the box blocking her view) that it wasn't until she rammed into someone that she realized they were there. Freedom naturally fell sprawled across the sidewalk, her papers and box escaping from her grasp.

"Chica! Mire donde usted va!"

Freedom scrambled to her feet. She looked up awkwardly at the tall girl. She was Mexican, with long, rich brown hair set up in a high pony-tail. She had an abstract tattoo sunning itself on her shoulder, and a set of deep blue stone earrings. Her face was set in a ticked frown and furrowed brow, it reminded Freedom of some girls at the school who picked on anybody they pleased because they were just that tough. "I'm sorry, I wasn't looking. Uh, do you speak English?"

"Por supuesto hablo inglés! Estúpido!"

_Crap, I don't know Spanish! How do I say sorry?! _"I can't understand you! Uh, sorriea? Sorio? Saree?" _I couldn't be making more of a fool of myself than I am now._

The girl looked disgusted. "Chica, are you _trying _to insult my Mexican heritage?" She leaned in on Freedom. "'Cause let me tell you, if you are, I know people who can make you disappear in a heartbeat. Got that? A _heartbeat_."

Freedom herself was listening intently to her rapid beating heart. "No! No, I wasn't trying to insult you or anything, really! I was… just…" The girl had already turned and walked away. _What?_ Who was she?

With a start Freedom realized her work papers had blown far enough away where she might not see them again if she didn't hurry up. In less time the she thought possible she had retrieved them all back. When she returned to where she fell she found that the box was fine save for a slight dent on one corner and a few scratches.

It didn't take long for her to get home after that. Her mom merely asked how it went (which Freedom simply responded to with "Fine, he said he'd hire me."), then sent her on to her room, and that dinner was in two hours. After checking for any sign that her little brother had stolen anything (which he had not), she plunked down on her bed, tossing the box and papers onto her desk. Her eyes strayed to the little mark on her ankle. It seemed to almost shimmer slightly in the light, with a pink sheen. _Somewhat like that other girl's tattoo. Weird… Is it possible? _Freedom sat up, realization sending shock through her body. Could she really have just met the second mew?

**Ugh, Okay, I didn't want to end it, but I don't want to stuff too much down every chapter. So! Kinda hurried finish, hope you like it. Stay tuned, I'll be working on the next chapter. And… REVIEW! Please? I want to kind of stay in a quota of 3 reviews per chapter, and it'd be great for more feed back! K, enjoy your day!**


	8. Confrontation

Hi

**Hi! I know it took me over a month, I'm sorry! In truth I was kinda hoping for more reviews, and when they didn't come I wanted to be stubborn. But yeah, I broke down, I wanted to (_had _to) share it. So, again, reviews are great, let me know what you think, ENJOY!**

"The second mew, already?" Retasu put the dust rag down and reached for her water bottle. It was a rather hot day, and she and Ryo decided to leave the air conditioning alone until they didn't need to hold the doors open for more café supplies anymore. "Are you sure, Freedom?"

The young girl had shown up, just as Ryo had ordered, and was now grudgingly lending a hand (though less grudgingly when it was only Retasu) that Sunday afternoon. While Ryo was installing something in the kitchen and calling around for advertisement openings, Retasu and Freedom were cleaning the tables of any debris they might have picked up from sitting around. Freedom was now wearing her orange uniform (despite the fact that she didn't need to) and glaring vengefully at a dark smudge on the dainty table she was cleaning.

"Freedom?" Retasu asked again.

Freedom looked up in surprise. "Huh? Oh, well… huh?"

"Are you certain that she could be your new partner?"

Freedom absently continued rubbing against the smudge. "I'm _pretty_ certain. I mean, it looked so similar to mine." Both glanced down where the shimmering mark would be had her shoes not been hiding it. "I don't know," she continued, "do you think it could have only been a tattoo?"

Retasu studied the girl, who seemed so similar and yet so different to her. She tried to think of how she must feel, being thrown into something so unknown, so unsure, and by total strangers no less. _What would Ichigo have done? _She wondered. _Probably think about Masaya and how much Ryo bugged her. I had at least been given friends to depend on when I joined Tokyo Mew Mew._ She thought pityingly. Outwardly she smiled at Freedom. "Freedom, I can't say that I'm always right. But I doubt that you met that girl on accident. And I'm sure that if she is a mew mew, we'll know of it soon enough."

Freedom grinned. "Thanks, Mrs. Shirogane."

"But until you do know for certain," came a voice, speaking of Shirogane, "I want you to keep an eye out on all your classmates, especially the girls." Ryo walked towards the open doors to go grab another package. "And look into the Mexican girl, see if you can find her again and be certain."

"Didn't you say before that you could help me out?" Freedom asked, looking somewhat disgruntled at Ryo's appearance.

"I can only help if a mew shows signs of activity. Until then, you'd better work to find them."

_Ryo,_ Lettuce inwardly sighed, looking at their new waitress who was ready to chuck something at her husband's retreating figure. A small smile played on her lips as she remembered how she had stuttered and panicked when Ryo had talked like that, and how he had patiently handled her uncertainty.

"Is he always like this?" Freedom hissed when Ryo was gone, now vigorously attacking the smudge that was slowly getting smaller. "I'm sorry, but how can you stand him?"

Retasu gave a placating smile, knowing it could be hard to understand her husband. "Ryo thinks about priorities and logic before someone's emotions most of the time. Though it's really more out of habit than anything. He's always trying to do what he thinks is the best for everybody." _Most of the time,_ she silently added to herself, _I think he enjoyed ticking off Ichigo, or throwing Mint off-balance every once in awhile._

"Hmm…" Freedom mused, still looking skeptical.

"So," Retasu hurried to change the subject to a lighter topic. "Your uniform fits you correctly?"

"Yeah, but I think my family's worried about me working here because of it." She gestured at the outfit's design for emphasis.

"Ah, my mother had thought it was rather flirty as well." Retasu reassured, remembering her mother's shock when she saw her home from her first day of work in the uniform. _Though she praised the idea of me going out on a limb with the new look._

"It's not so much my mom as my older brother, actually." Freedom gave a satisfied smile as she looked at the now spotless table. "He had made a bigger deal about it, I think he's worried about your husband's intentions of me wearing it." The girl had it in her to look sheepish at this remark.

"Oh." Mrs. Shirogane let it gently drop. _Ryo wouldn't think of that so much as the uniforms make the place attract even more attention._

Miss Dahwe glanced towards an intricate and modern clock that Retasu had bought for the room. "Mrs. Shirogane, I think I have to go now, I don't want my mom it get worried."

Retasu gave her a winning smile. "Don't worry, you've done enough work, just don't forget to be here at 3:30 tomorrow."

"I won't forget, I promise!" Freedom's voice faded as she ran out the door, leaving Retasu to contently hum through the rest of the tables that need to be wiped.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hey, Freedom."

The girl halted and turned towards Ryo. _Oh great, what does he want now? _"Yes, Mr. Shirogane?"

Ryo had been taking out some boxes of his and Retasu's that still hadn't made it to the upper apartments. He frowned when he caught Freedom's tone. "First off, you don't have to keep to the formalities, call me Ryo. Don't forget tomorrow-"

"Yeah, I know, 3:30 sharp, first day and all that." _Now I gotta leave, but thank-you for reminding me._

Ryo nodded. "Good." She was about to turn and go when he called again. "And Freedom?"

_Must go now! _"Yes?"

"Be careful, you might meet up with the Chimera Anima." Freedom started somewhat at how serious his tone was. _What in the world is a Chimera Anima? Did it involve that purple squirrel?_

"I will sir, thanks." Freedom gave him a reassuring smile that she always used on her mom when Mrs. Dahwe was worried. "See ya!"

She quickly scampered out of his sight and down the road towards her home. _You know, he can really come off as a jerk, but I see why Retasu likes him. _His young face entered her mind, with his fine blond hair and dreamy blue eyes. She felt kind of surprised at how he had been attracted to someone like his wife. _But still, those two actually make a good couple. _Freedom smiled as she pictured Retasu blushing as Ryo gave her a warm look. _They look… kinda like my parents had._ Freedom cut off her thoughts. She didn't really want to think about her dad right then. It wasn't as if he had done something wrong, it was just… _No! Not right now! New thoughts!_

Freedom was brought out of her reverie by the sound of girls chattering towards her.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Yakuro silently watched from above as the unsuspecting mew walked away from the café. He couldn't help but scorn the leader Ryo. _How dumb is it to reconstruct the _exact same_ headquarters? _Yakuro shook his head in disgust.

The new mew turned a corner and Yakuro kept pace. _Is it really possible that this girl beat my monster?_ The thought really irked him, he hadn't expected the humans to actually _fight well_, or more specifically, to actually _win_.But was really stinging him was when Tyrais had called him an idiot. How was he to know? But he should of, he _should _have known. _No matter, I'll get my revenge soon enough. _He calmly appeased to himself.

Yakuro noticed that Freedom had stopped and discovered that a group of girls were heading her way. _Why would she stop?_

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Cinnamon laughed right along with Maria and Tammy. In truth, she hadn't quite heard what her friend had said, but it was easy to pick up what they expected her to do.

Maria kept laughing hysterically. "Oh! Oh, Tammy, why are you still with him? I mean, you caught him red handed!" She went through another fit of giggles that the other girls patiently ignored. "I- I mean, really! I can see it so clearly, him caressing some random girl and then you showing up right there! Just as he was about to kiss her! Ha!"

Cinnamon glanced at Tammy, her love struck best friend since the second grade. _She'd better get out of this before she digs her own grave, or _I'll _have to get involved. _"Amiga, you should watch it, I don't think you should stay with that perro. He's not worth it."

Tammy sent her friend a nonchalant look. "C'mon Cinnamon. _You're _the one who said I needed a man in my life."

"That was before I knew that you picked horribly."

"You really think I should dump him?" Her friend frowned slightly for effect.

"Positivo, the man treats you more like meat then person anyhow."

Tammy sighed dramatically. "But he said such the sweetest things."

"Hey!"

The trio looked to see a girl in a frilly waitress outfit coming towards them. Her gray eyes flashed as she moved closer. Maria and Tammy just sat there puzzled, but Cinnamon recognized her immediately.

_Mierda! It's that chica I threatened yesterday!_

"You, with the funny tattoo on your shoulder, I have to ask you something!"

"I'll catch you later Tammy." Cinnamon didn't wait to see her friends' surprised looks as she ran off, the waitress girl in hot pursuit.

"Do you… know what just happened?" Maria hesitantly asked.

Above them Yakuro watched just as mystified. _Who is she chasing? _Without any more delay he followed after the mew.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hey! Stop!" Freedom jumped a trashcan as she raced after the Mexican girl. _I am so glad this outfit came with good shoes! _She mentally praised Ryo. The girl ahead of her was fast, _really _fast. Wasn't _she _the one who inherited those cougar genes? _Darn, _Freedom mentally growled as a stitch made itself more apparent in her side. _I really need to work out more._ "Stop!" she called again rather futilely to the girl. "Uh, please stop?"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Cinnamon glanced behind and saw, unfortunately, that the girl was keeping pace. _What do I do? _Cinnamon was positive she couldn't outrun this girl much longer, and she was too far away from her gang to get any protection from them either. _Protection! Why would I need it? It's a short girl in a frilly outfit!_

Cinnamon turned sharply into a dead end and hid behind a trash can at the opening. Her face set in a determined frown.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

_Yes! _Freedom's legs increased speed when she saw the girl turn into the dead end.

She rounded the corner and glanced around, finding that, to her dismay, somehow the girl had disappeared. _I didn't turn a wrong corner, I know I didn't! _"Hello?"

Suddenly the girl sprang from behind some garbage and ran at her, slamming her into the opposite wall. "What is your problem chica?!" Freedom's body began to pump with adrenaline as she stared into the girl's ticked face.

_Oh crap, how am I going to explain to mom that I got beat up on my way home? Should I beg for mercy? Offer my money? _"I- I don't have a problem! You're the one that ran away from me!" _Wait, I don't have any money._

"You calling me cobarde? Well, are you?"

_I don't even know what a cob-whatta is! _"N-no! I mean I don't think so…" _PLEASE don't beat me up! _

The girl's deep frown intensified. "Why were you after me? You apart of some gang, chica? Were you sent to take me out?"

_What? Gang?! _"No! I swear I wasn't! I mean I'm not apart of a gang!" _I don't do drugs! I don't even jay walk! Well, maybe sometimes._

Freedom was re-slammed into the wall. "Then why were you chasing me? Hable a chica!"

"I just needed to know…" Freedom trailed off in embarrassment.

The girl leaned closer, her eyes centimeters from Freedom's. "What." It was a command to tell, not a question.

"The… do you know where… you got that mark?" Freedom's eyes darted from her shoulder back to the angry brown eyes.

The girl let go of Freedom, but kept a stance that said if she tried anything, she'd be back to being pinned. "My tattoo?" Freedom could tell she was skeptical.

_Must… get away… from scary Mexican! _"I know it's weird, but it's actually important. Did you get it at a tattoo place?" _And can you not act like your going to kill me?_

She glared long and hard at Freedom, so long that Freedom wondered if she'd heard, but eventually she spoke. "I got it at Ricky's Parlor."

_Huh? _Freedom wasn't expecting that. "A tattoo parlor?"

"You asked where I got it and I told you. Where else would you get a tattoo?" she challenged.

_Crud, so I probably made myself a target for some gang for nothing. Wait until mom hears this. But the tattoos are so similar! _"So it didn't… just randomly appear?"

"Excuse me?"

"Does the term 'mew mew' mean anything to you by chance? Did you see any strange lights recently?"

The girl eyed her like someone eyes a lunatic. "Chica, I don't know who you are, but I've had enough of you. Get lost, and stay lost." She leaned in slightly. "If you give me anymore trouble, I'll send my friends after you, and you'll regret even speaking to me when they're done with you."

"I have a better idea."

Both girls looked up to see a boy with weird clothes and large ears staring down at them. His body levitated itself about twenty feet in the air. "What the heck is this?!" The girl yelled. Freedom gazed at the figure intently; he seemed so unnatural, yet there was something…

"Who are you?" Freedom called up. _You strange floating freak with genetically misshapen ears._

His smirk grew wider. "Call me Yakuro, though you might not have much time left to say it. Chimera Anima, go!"

_Chimera Anima, where have I heard that? Oh Lord…_

"What the heck does that mean?" The girl glanced at Freedom's quickly whitening face.

"It means run!"

**Review!!**


	9. Mexican's Cinnamon

**This, is, soooo…. Long. But I had to create the new mew, so she's finally in here. Please let me know what you think, what I could correct, etc. Please enjoy!**

"Run?" Cinnamon looked at the girl's panicked eyes and decided she wasn't kidding. _But since when do I run? No whacko boy with a magic trick is going to make me act like a coward. _The girl reached for her arm and started to drag her towards the entrance, but Cinnamon removed herself from her grip easily. "What is your problem, chica?"

A booming squawk suddenly erupted form over head, and Cinnamon look up in alarm. A giant _bird _like thing was sitting on top of the building they were against. It had large red pupils with an array of messy feathers around its face. Where wings would have been meant to be protruded nothing but bones, which in turn had what looked like oil coating seeping out of them. As it's eyes made contact with Cinnamon's it gave a disgruntled shriek. _Saint Mary, what is that?! _

"Run!" The girl repeated.

Cinnamon saw the bird drop into a swoop and didn't hesitate any longer. Her feet pumped towards the opening faster than she ever remembered running. _I've never been this panicked before. _Then again, a bird large enough to eat her had never chased her before. A large shadow came over her and she instinctively ducked down. With an obnoxious screech the bird past harmlessly over her, the great gust of wind that followed it blew trash into her back. The waitress's voice started shouting again. "Get up! Keep running!" _Don't tell me what to do! _Cinnamon mentally reprimanded.

With an amazing burst of adrenaline she zoomed out of the alley. _I made it! _Her body felt light as a feather (no pun intended) with relief. Cinnamon was almost around the next corner when she turned, hearing a startled cry, and found the bird at the entrance facing inward. Her heart skipped a beat when she caught a glimpse of the frilly waitress still in the alley, her only exit now blocked. _What do I do?! _The shorthaired girl looked panicky, but she turned and looked straight at Cinnamon and shouted, "Keep running! Go!"

Cinnamon's legs responded immediately and before she knew it she was around the corner and away from the unnatural creature. After awhile she stopped and looked back, but she didn't see or hear anything.

_What now? _

XXXXXXXXXXXX

**For the record, despite the time change where the mews are, I'm making only a few minutes difference for the Cyniclons back home.**

As the trio came closer to the community labs, a great amount of movement sounded from the closed doors. _What the…? Did someone let out the experimental Chimera's again? _Taruto began to glide closer towards the door, but Pai and Kisshu effectively cut him off.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" He shouted, more to Kisshu than Pai.

The clamor coming from inside increased at Taruto's voice.

Pai gripped the handle and turned it, but it was locked. "Kish, Taruto, get ready to teleport."

Taruto frowned, his mother had taught him as many times as she could in his life _never _to teleport into a locked room, because it was often locked for a good reason.

Kish glanced at Taruto, misinterpreting the frown. "You've been in the lab, Tart. Don't tell me you can't remember what it looks like." His voice was quieter, not wanting to provoke whatever was behind the door even further.

"Of course I can!" the little alien hissed vehemently. Though aliens could teleport at will, they had to know where they were going, or they might mess up the location that they went. At the more public areas of the base were machines that teleported them to the location, so those whom hadn't been there had no trouble.

Glass broke on the other side of the door.

"On my mark." Pai glanced at the two aliens. "Now!"

The three aliens simultaneously appeared within the community labs. What they found instead of the usual spotless area was an array of messy chemical spills and colorful glassware strewn across the floor.

In the midst of this, a Cyniclon was frantically groping at several bottle mixtures. His lank, dull hair looked a lot messier than the aliens were used to seeing it, and his blood shot yellow eyes had an almost crazed sheen.

Kisshu stared in shock while Pai and Taruto simultaneously shouted in surprise.

"Geberot?!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Freedom felt panic flutter through her stomach as the bird landed in front of her, cutting off her escape, and it was the panic that made her let out a yell. But as soon as she saw the Mexican girl turn and look back at her, she knew she couldn't panic. _I can't let her get involved with this, especially since she's not a mew. I can't let innocent people get hurt! _

With resolve she didn't know she had Freedom called out "Keep running! Go!" To her relief the girl turned and bolted, apparently not needing any more encouragement. _Well, that's good, now she's safe. But WHAT ABOUT ME?! _The giant mutation craned its neck towards her, letting out an eerie sound as it drew near. Freedom stumbled backwards a couple steps before tripping. She looked up from her position at the drooling creature. _Oh gosh, oh crap! Crap crap crap crap crap!_

She rammed her hand into her apron pocket and came back with the strange pendant. "Please work again!" She quietly begged. She gripped the pendant and thought of changing, becoming the amazing superhero she had been the last time.

A moment past.

Two moments.

The bird took a step closer.

_AHH! _ "Hurry! Change! Transform!" At the last word the pendant began glowing and the strange sensation returned. _Yes! _

The transformation wasn't nearly as spectacular as the first one, but the ending was still the same. New outfit. New ears. And a tail.

She would _never _get used to the tail.

The bird closed in on her with a giant peck. But Freedom's new reflexes allowed her to dodge it easily. The bird swiped around with it's wing, causing the oil-looking coating to fly off at the walls and towards Freedom. Immediately she felt as if her skin were burning, she looked at the bubbling toxin on her arm. _Acid?! _She leaped back from the creature's other wing, carefully keeping away from the hurdled mixture.

_Take out your weapon! _ Her mind franticly reminded. Freedom grappled for it every time she landed, but every time she would land the bird would be right there to knock her back a little more. _Darn! I can't do anything like this! I have to take the chance! _She once again dropped to the ground, the bird made no move. _Now! _The words leaped from her throat. "STAR BELL!" Freedom watched as the specks of light appeared and converged on one another, forming her weapon just above her. _Yes! Finally! _But immediately as her hand went to grab it the Chimera Anima struck. It's beak snapped at the star bell and sent it flying far out of Freedom's range. "No!" She lunged up toward her lost weapon, a good ten feet, but the bird was there to block her. With speed that surprised Freedom it suddenly lashed out at her, bucking her with its head. The blow sent her flying backward into the dead end's wall.

With a satisfying _Thump! _Freedom fell to the garbage-strewn ground. "Ow…"

A low hissing sound brought her eyes open. She shrieked involuntarily as the bird came in for the kill. Freedom painfully stood and glanced around, but found no way around the bird that wouldn't probably get her killed. _Poop. _She thought, oddly feeling disgruntled about all this. The birds drooling beak loomed closer, making Freedom instinctively push as far as she could against the wall.

"So it's my turn to ask, who are you?"

Freedom looked up to see the strange guy sitting on the buildings ledge. He jumped down and Freedom almost called in alarm, but her temporary fear for him was shoved back down her throat as he glided gracefully over to the head of the bird.

She looked more closely at him and discovered that, despite the ears, he wasn't all that bad looking. His jet black hair was long enough to give him a slightly shaggy look, but not so long that it looked bad. His body was well muscled, and his jaw line had a distinctive look. His eyes, which were an unnerving yellow, were gazing hard into hers, as if he was trying to figure something out. _Since when do I notice so much on how a guy looks? _Freedom silently chastised. But then again, she wasn't often backed up in an alley about to be eaten by giant mutations either.

"I'll ask once more, since it appears you're slow." His voice carried serious authority, but Freedom only had eyes and ears for the bird that was moving even closer. "Who. Are. You?"

Freedom denied herself the luxury to whimper and quickly answered. "I'm Freedom- or, Mew Freedom!"

"Mew Freedom, of course. By the way, is it common for human's to have orange eyes?" _I have orange eyes?! What?! _Ignoring her surprised face, he glided down closer to her. He was somehow managing to sit cross-legged, with one elbow propped up to hold his head, while not only not _really _sitting, but _moving_.

Freedom's brain hurt.

"You said you were Yakuro, right?" It stunned her that her voice wasn't quaking, though her knees were. "Why are you attacking earth, or making these monster things?" Freedom glanced at the creature.

His eyebrows shot up slightly, as if he was surprised that she was questioning him. "Because earth belongs to my people, the Cyniclons. And I am here to take it back for them."

"That doesn't explain the monsters."

"Yes it does, you just aren't using your tiny brain to figure it out."

_That arrogant jerk! _"Hey!-"the beast loomed over her threateningly, "Hey…" she cautioned, trying hard to melt into the wall's surface.

"So why are you fighting my monster's off?" he asked, his eyes gleaming with amusement.

_You know why, you just aren't using your stupid brain to figure it out! _"If I don't, you might hurt someone." Freedom looked away from him and stole a glance at her weapon, which lay at a miserable distance.

"Don't bother trying to grab it or my pigeon eats you." Yakuro stated without having to follow her line of vision. He smirked as her face blanched at the thought. "Well, _Mew _Freedom, I'll get straight to the point. It probably won't matter what you do, somebody's going to get hurt sooner or later (if they don't comply with me). There's no way _any _of you can beat me. So, I could have my creature kill you right now, and my problem would be solved. Or, I can let you go, but only on the condition that you will help me take over your planet."

His gaze penetrated her own frightened (and apparently orange) eyes. What was she supposed to say? She knew the correct answer: 'Of course not you imbecile! What do you take me for? I'd never help you!'. But could she say it? Her mom was probably freaking out right now, calling Ryo to see where I was. _Ryo! Maybe he can help me! _But she doubted it. Could she sentence herself to her own death, would that _really _help anyone except the enemy? But saying that she would help them was just as bad!

_This sucks! _Freedom knew her answer.

She glared up at him in meager defiance. "Thanks for the generous offer. But let's be blunt, there's no way that I'm going to help you, _ever_. Even if I did die, you'd _still _lose."

Yakuro didn't seem fazed in the slightest. "Well, then. It's been interesting. Pigeon," the bird gave a low and menacing coo, "she's yours."

Panic and instincts took over as the bird's head made a beeline for her own. A scream accidentally escaped her mouth as she dove to the side, but to her relief the bird had missed. _Grab the Star Bell, grab it! _But then the bird was back before she could make a run for it. It's large foot came down on her body and pinned her to the debris-strewn concrete. Its head arched upward, preparing to plunge its massive jaw into her body. _This is it, I can't believe this. _

Though she was in mortal peril, her cat ears had the nerve to pick up a strange sound and cause her to wonder what it was.

Her answer came in the form of a trash can lid, which had such a satisfying impact with the pigeon's head that it dented badly (the lid). It had also hit hard enough to throw the bird off balance, and release Freedom. Without missing a beat she jumped up and ran to her weapon, relief swelled in her as her hand gripped it firmly.

"You audacious rat!"

It was Yakuro's voice, and Freedom turned to give a smart remark back at him until she realized he wasn't talking to her. Her eyes followed his to the alley's entrance and found that the Mexican girl hadn't left as she had first thought.

_What is she thinking?! Why'd she come back, the idiot! _"You need to get away! What are you doing here?!"

The girl's brown eyes looked smug. "Saving your behind!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Geberot?!"

The alien glanced around nervously, trying vainly not to draw attention to the concoctions in his arms. "Gentleman, isn't it a common state of courtesy _not _to teleport into a locked room? I don't know how much of Cyniclon protocol was lost to your measly brains, but surely you're not _stupid_?"

"Why you-!" Tart started to fly over to the fat-head, intending to smack some Cyniclon protocol into _his _head, but Pai (unfortunately) held him back.

"Geberot-_sensei_," he seemed to emphasis the ending for Taruto's sake, "Forgive our intrusion, we heard… unusual sounds coming from this room."

"If the door was locked it means that someone was in here having everything under control, you fool!"

Pai's mask creased into an angry glare, "Sir-"

"Geberot…"

The three swiveled their heads to look at Kisshu, who stood there staring at the pompous fool as if in a daze. "Geberot…"

_The teleportation had barely worked, there was too much distance being put in._

_Which meant there would be trouble getting back._

_Kisshu didn't have much time to wonder about this. "Yakuro!?" He exclaimed, taken aback by seeing the boy navigating the ship almost out of the crevice._

_The boy seemed just as surprised to see one of the 'heroes' teleport into the stolen ship. "How did-? Lentro!"_

_That's right, _Kish realized, the memory finally brought back by those surprised yellow eyes, _Yakuro was the one! Him and three others! _He set a furious glare towards Geberot, making the man take a step back. "You!" Kisshu jumped towards the man, vengeance in his furious eyes.

Pai immediately let go of Taruto, who was too stunned to try and grab Geberot himself. "Kisshu! Get a hold of yourself!"

"He's the one, Pai! Yakuro's the one who stole the ship!"

Pai and Tart froze, slowly turning to see Geberot's face. The Cyniclon couldn't have looked guiltier, his body shaking so bad that his huge stomach could vibrate on its own if he stopped. "I- I- He's a liar! He's always hated me! He's lying!" His eyes were bulging out of there sockets as they rolled around franticly.

_This is are tactician? No wonder we've done so poorly. _Kish though in disgust.

Pai released Kish and started for the man himself, but the blubbering fool got the better of them as he suddenly threw a large bottle of green powder on the ground. He teleported away, his face suddenly composed, with a snort of contempt at the ground. "This isn't over!" He spat.

Pai reeled back as the green smoke began to expand. "Quick! It's poisonous, teleport out!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Cinnamon couldn't believe this.

First, the random freak that had chased her off was some psychotic terrorist bent on taking over the world with mutated animals.

Second, even though her hair and eyes and overall appearance had changed entirely, Cinnamon could easily see that the frantic and simple-minded waitress girl that had been chasing her was now some full blown super-chick about to get killed by the psychotic terrorist.

Third, Cinnamon wasn't scared out of her wits by a mutated freak-of-nature creature, the random boy terrorist, and the human cat girl.

But the biggest thing she couldn't fathom was why in the world she had come back. _I'm taking on a giant rabid aves! I'm gonna get kicked out of my gang if they ever hear this! _

"Pigeon, get her!" Yakuro glared at the dumb bird while pointing angrily at Cinnamon. The bird hadn't quite recovered yet from the impact of the lid and was shaking its head to try and make the black dots swim away. Finally its head cleared and glared at the attacker, giving a menacing coo. It picked up the lid and thrashed it into the wall, smashing it to the size of a large tin can.

_Camino por recorre, Cinnamon. You're about to take on a 1-story high bird that's pissed at you._ Cinnamon watched the bird approach her with waning confidence. _But I can't let the freak know that. Lesson #1 in fighting, never let your opponent see your weakness._

She cooed at it, smiling for show. "That's right, pretty birdie. Come here pretty birdie." She didn't know what she was thinking. Besides the fact that she was taking on Frankenstein's pet, since when did she risk her neck for a total stranger, and a flaky one at that?

Speaking of the annoyance, she was up and running towards Cinnamon right then. The girl jumped in front of her and thrust the star-thing at the incoming creature. "What are you doing?" Cinnamon couldn't help cocking an eyebrow.

She looked firmly ahead of her. "I'm going to use my weapon on it."

Cinnamon looked at her incredulously. "Are you crazy?! Has the shock gone to your head?" _A piece of plastic isn't going to do squat in this situation!_

But the waitress ignored her. "Star burst, ANNIHILATION!"

Cinnamon didn't even have time to wonder about the cheesy yell before a ball of light formed within the metal-star frame and then burst into a giant laser. _That's no ordinary piece of plastic. _Cinnamon thought with some reverence.

Freedom watched in rapture as her weapon's attack hit the bird. The 'pigeon' cried out in pain and was forced back to the end of the alley, but it did not disintegrate like at the park. _What's wrong, why isn't it working?! _Her attack died off and she kept herself from barely falling over, suddenly weak-kneed.

Yakuro laughed harshly from somewhere above them, but Freedom kept her eyes on the still visible bird, which looked rather aggravated.

"You fool!" Yakuro looked at her disdainfully. "You'd think I'd allow my new creation to be as weak as my last attempt?"

"Shut it, idiota! At least she doesn't hide behind some big criatura like a baby!" The Mexican girl shouted from behind her.

Freedom looked and saw Yakuro's eyes thin to a rather threatening glare. "Um, what possessed you to do that just now?" She murmured to the teenager. _Not that I completely understood what you said in the first place, but… _

The girl looked at her with hard, determined eyes. "Whatever it was that you just tried to pull, chica, it was the only thing that would have gotten us out of this mess. I just figured I'd irk the freak to the very end."

_I like her thinking_,Praised the part of her mind that still stung from Yakuro's rude remarks. But another part of her shivered at the thought of the 'very end'.

Suddenly the sound of screeching tires reached the two girls, and they looked back to find A large red sports car come to a drastic stop mere feet away from them.

"Ryo!" Freedom cried in relief.

"Who?" Cinnamon looked on blankly.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Yakuro felt his face grow clammy.

He had made a mistake.

Ryo. Ryo Shirogane. The man who created and enforced the Mew teams to protect the planet. The man who himself was part cat due to a poor experiment. The man whose parents were murdered by a Chimera Anima when they had been studying Cyniclon ruins. The man who stopped the previous Cyniclon invasion.

The man who was currently helping the Cyniclons back home find out who the traitors were.

And he had given out his name like candy.

He stared down at the Mew that had so easily tricked him without trying to. Her sweet innocence and lack of knowledge had made him cocky, and now he and his team's plans would be tested drastically. _This is not good. _

Yakuro instructed the bird to kill the people and do as it pleased. He had to get out of there before they could also put a face to his name. Without anyone's notice, save the Chimera Anima's, he silently teleported away.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The three aliens landed in the hallway outside the door. Kish and Pai felt weak-kneed, but for the most part were fine.

Taruto wasn't.

"Tart!" Kish ran over to the fallen alien, his face white as a sheet as he struggled to bring in breath. "Pai! What do we do?"

Pai picked up the feeble child. "Let's get to the infirmary."

"And Geberot?" Kish looked at Pai's dark features.

"I'll boil his eyes in his own fat and throw his carcass out to the blizzard." He stated menacingly.

_Note to self, _never_, _ever_, get on Pai's bad side. _Kish and Pai teleported back to the infirmary.

The moment they dropped into the waiting room at the hospital everything went silent.

One second was used to asses the frail, blue lipped Taruto.

The next to get him to a doctor faster than Tart's friends thought possible.

"What's causing this?" One of the doctors asked as they hurried down the hall with Tart on a stretcher. It was the same doctor that Pai had strangled earlier.

"He inhaled some green smoke from the community labs; I think it was chemical k82." Pai's face was back to a neutral expression, save for his worried eyes.

The nurse and doctor simultaneously sucked in there breath. The doctor swung his head towards the nurse so fast that Kish thought it would have flown off. "Get an oxygen tube and a bucket of water ready, now!"

"Pai, what's the chemical?" Kish whispered.

"Chemical k82 is a substance not meant for direct contact with Cyniclons. If the material is inhaled, it instantaneously inflames the throat and lungs, making it almost impossible to breathe. Tart must have inhaled to quickly before he got out." Pai's own breath sounded labored as well, and with a pang Kish realized he was having trouble too.

"We'll have to force him to breathe in some water so the gas particles can be washed out, but it'll be awhile before the inflaming goes down." The doctor started as he noticed Kish and Pai's weary faces. "Don't tell me you were in there with him?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Kish heaved out with a fanged smile.

"Nurse! I need two more oxygen tubes and water buckets!" He sought out another man who was off duty, "You there, get them on a bed and follow me!"

_Great, I can barely breathe and they're going to make me drown myself, joy. _Kish would have wasted more time giving flirtatious remarks to the attractive ladies that were gently helping him onto the bed, but he suddenly didn't have the energy. _I'm going to kill that two-faced fraud of a leader when I'm done with this. _

Not being able to do much else he tried to force himself to choke on the water they were forcing into his mouth.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Ryo assessed the two girls in front of him.

Freedom looked somewhat tired, which was to be expect with the high amount of energy she needed to stay on her toes. Her face had immediately brightened when he had come up, and he assumed that the aliens controlling the Chimera Anima had enhanced it to be harder to take down than one blast of her weapon. "Are you okay?" He asked quickly. She immediately sensed his urgency and simply nodded.

The other girl was obviously the one Freedom had run into the day before. Her rich dark brown hair was falling out of its pony-tail, and she had a few bits of garbage on her jeans, but she otherwise looked completely unfazed by everything.

A loud screech told them the bird was done watching.

Mew Freedom turned toward the monster. "I'll try and keep it back!" With that she leaped a good twenty feet in the air and gave a solid kick to the bird's head.

The Mexican gawked. _Probably never saw someone jump that high. _Ryo thought wryly, remembering how Ichigo and the other mews would fight similar. Ryo caught a faint glimmer and saw the delicate mark on the girl's shoulder. "Kid, what's your name."

She turned and regarded him icily. "Do I know you?"

"Listen, I don't have time for punks-"

Both turned at the sound of Freedom screaming. She had had the advantage for a bit, but now the bird was enraged. The bird struck Freedom with one of its skeletal wings and sent her flying into a wall. With a thump she landed on the ground and curled into a fetal position, trying hard not to feel the acid burn her.

The Mexican girl jumped to go help, but Ryo caught her. "Let go you idiota! I gotta help her!"

"You can't, not the way you are right now." Ryo pointed with his other hand. "You see that mark on your shoulder, Freedom has one just like it, it's a sign that you are what she is, a Mew Mew."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"You see that mark on your shoulder, Freedom has one just like it, it's a sign that you are what she is, a Mew Mew."

Cinnamon momentarily forgot the girl's distress. She was what the cat-girl was? She was a cat girl?! But it actually made sense.

"_The… do you know where… you got that mark?"_

"_My tattoo?"_ _She had asked. _

"_I know it's weird, but it's actually important…"_

"That's what the chica had been asking, if I was like her?" Cinnamon couldn't believe it, was she getting pranked?

"Take this." He put a small metal pendant in her hand, with a similar design to her tattoo engraved in it. Ryo looked at her earnestly. "Hold this and call out 'transform' when you want to change. Hurry and help Mew Freedom."

_What's the magic word? _Cinnamon thought sarcastically as she raced towards the bird. The super-girl, or, the mew girl, Freedom, was gazing wide eyed at the bird as it moved its neck like a hypnotic serpent going in for the kill.

_Now or never. _She thought. "Hey! You over-grown mutated excuse for a bird! Over here." The bird turned away from its helpless prey, hissing menacingly. It started to charge. _Wait for it… wait… _Cinnamon knew she had to time this right or it would work. _… Now! _ "Transform!" She yelled out.

A blinding light engulfed her before she knew what was happening. The strange and pleasant sensation that came on triggered a memory; she had felt this way before, early a couple days back when she and her group were scouting another gang's territory. The ground had shaken and caused some boxes to topple on top of her, pinning her down so she couldn't run when a strange light came blasting at her. She had dreamed of a bird… a tropical one…

The light radiated away and showed the bird a new girl running at it with speed that wasn't given to a normal human. With a giant swing Cinnamon burst into the air and decked the mutation. The momentum sent the bird skidding towards the back of the alley, croaking in pain.

Cinnamon landed solidly on the ground and stood. Just like Freedom, Cinnamon's attire had changed too. Her hair had become a dark red and was now set in a high ponytail, perfectly arranged and no longer messy. She wore a sleeveless dark red dress that parted at the thigh down to two long flaps of flexible but firm fabric. Her boots were replaced with ones that reached up to her knees and shown a dark maroon red color. Like Freedom, she had also acquired some maid looking puff sleeves, and one to match them on her left thigh. For a moment she didn't know where her pendant had gone until she looked and found Freedom's rested around her neck, she felt and to her relief found her own in the same position.

Her hands flashed to her ears, but they were still human as ever. _Guess I got my hopes up. _She thought sadly. But just as she thought it, some back muscles she never knew she had drooped at her disappointment. She glanced back and nearly shot out of her skin, which also caused the gleaming green and red wings to shoot up also. "I… I… What the heck is this?!" She had imagined it, but didn't think it would _actually _happen! _Oh dear Saint Mary, I'm a bird, Lord Almighty, I'm a BIRD! _Protruding from right where her tail-bone would end were two long shining emerald tail-feathers.

She glanced at Freedom, who looked just as surprised, though Cinnamon didn't know why.

"But," Freedom sat there dumfounded, "but you said that you got the mark at a tattoo place!"

_Oh, right. _"You were stalking me, chica, I wasn't going to be very honest with a stalker."

"Hey wait, I wasn't-"

The bird roared and sprang up, heading straight for Freedom. Before it could reach her though, Cinnamon was they're grabbing her out of the way.

"…uh, thanks."

"You owe me."

"What?!"

"Girls, focus on defeating the bird!" Ryo watched warily as the bird eyed each of them in turn.

Freedom looked up at her new comrade. "So, what's your name then?"

"… Cinnamon."

Freedom nodded, sensing the don't-make-fun-of-my-name-or-else vibe. "Okay, call out your weapon; I think if we attack it at the same time, it'll finish it off."

"How?"

"Just call it up, you'll see."

"Call it up? What? Do I have to say a cheesy line?"

Freedom darted a dark look. "Apparently that's what the other mews did, so I think you should."

Cinnamon couldn't believe what she was discussing. "All right, fine."

Freedom crouched down in a feral position, glaring at the Pigeon. "Okay, call up your weapon."

_How? _But then she felt it, the words she had to say. "Tempest Fan!" She watched, mesmerized, as tiny pricks of light appeared and formed a red handle with a diamond star embedded in it, along with carved white wings on the handles bottom. _Get ready to fight. _She told it. The handle suddenly sprung out glowing light blue feathers that stretched and reached out about four feet before stopping, it was a very big fan.

Freedom looked at it admiringly. "Nice. So, ready?"

"When ever you are, chica."

"Don't call me that. Okay… now!"

The girl's jumped into the air, skyrocketing over the shrieking bird.

"Star burst, ANNIHILATION!" Freedom shouted out.

Cinnamon thought a moment. "… Star, Wind, TSUNAMI!" Cinnamon brought the fan over her head and thrust it down.

The giant blue wall of energy from Cinnamon's tempest fan joined freedom's laser light. The bird didn't even get a chance to scream properly before it turned back into a normal pigeon that looked worse for wear. The jellyfish teleported away, back to it's unhappy master.

Cinnamon and Freedom gazed at the tortured and bruised alleyway. Ryo walked slowly up to them. "It took you guys long enough." He looked at Cinnamon with a smile that surprised the girl. "Welcome to Mew Mew team, Cinnamon."

**Too OOC? I tried not too, but let me know. How? Simple, REVIEW!! :Ahem: till next chapter! Enjoy school! (If your in it!)**


	10. Friend Issues

**I know it took forever to post, forgive me!!! Well, if you don't want to, you don't have to, but, you know, it'd be nice. Um, this is a REALLY short chapter, 'cause I'm having horrible writers block on how to bring about the 3rd mew, but rest assured, I think I'm, MAYBE, getting past it. K, hope this helps the wait!**

"You got a _what _at _where _now?" Sarah gawked uncomprehendingly at Freedom, her expression trying to find a balance between being incredulous and disgusted. She had asked Freedom, now that her weekend-lockdown was over with, if she wanted to head over to do some window-shopping after school (which wasn't window shopping so much as getting something from a café and Sarah making rude remarks about how people dress).

Freedom sighed. "I can't do anything after school tonight because I got a job at Café Mew Mew."

"Forget the place, you got a _job_? Without _telling _me?"

"Um… yeah?"

Sass glowered. "So friendship since the 3rd grade means nothing to you then?"

_Oh my- give it a rest! _"Hey, it was practically thrown at me." _No, that's the wrong word, _completely _is a much more realistic term, _"And, well, it has good pay? I couldn't really say no." Sarah continued to glower. "I'm sorry, okay?! It's not like I _planned _to go behind your back with it."

Sarah huffed. "Whatever, at least it's a café, You You, was it? Anyway, you can get me discounts."

"Sure…" Freedom wondered how Sass would react if she ever _saw _the place. "Anything interesting happen this weekend?"

"Nah, you?" Freedom was thankful that, coming from Sarah, that was a rhetorical question. Sarah leaned away, munching on her taco. "I still can't believe you got a job, how'd you managed to get hired?"

"Did I here you say Freedom got a job?" Jon walked over with raised eyebrows. His tray clunking down on the table. "Where's this?"

"Something called café Goo Goo or another, does this piece of meat look like the cafeteria lady's gum to you?"

Jon ignored the last part and turned to Freedom in surprise. "You mean Café _Mew Mew_? Isn't that the new place that just went up, the _pink _one?"

Suddenly there was pre-chewed taco being spit out on the cafeteria floor, causing a few heads to turn. Sass looked at Freedom in horror. Jon mused obliviously at the mess on the floor his girlfriend had created. "_What_?"

Freedom laughed nervously. "You know, you sounded just like Mr. Crank right there…"

"Freedom, you _said _you weren't doing drugs."

"I'm not!"

"Then what possessed you to get a job _there_?"

"So you've heard of it?" Freedom dodged evasively, wondering if she could get away with hiding in some storage closet until school ended and she was safe from Sass.

"What were you _thinking_?! It looks more like a 'My Little Pony' castle than anything else! And you're _working _there?"

"I said it had good pay, didn't I?!" Freedom could feel their argument attracting more attention than she would have liked.

Sarah shot to her feet and twirled around in a way that made you think of an infuriated movie star, grabbing Jon's arm, she dragged him away with her towards the school yard. "And you can forget getting me discounts!" She yelled over her shoulder.

Freedom plunked her head on the cafeteria table, trying her hardest not to make contact with the prying eyes around her. _What a great start to the day. _She thought sarcastically.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Bonnie! It's coming to you!"

Bonnie had already seen it coming, she always did, but that didn't stop her from being ecstatic at getting it (again). "GOT IT!!"

The opposing team watched in dismay as the little blond head darted straight to the ball, piercing blue eyes gleaming in anticipation. Her tiny legs pumped her up to the ball at a surprising speed. Without a second thought she jumped a good few feet into the air and spiked it down to the scuffed floor on the other team's side.

"Point!" called out the coach. He glanced down at his watched quickly, almost hopefully. "Okay you guys, head to the locker rooms and change, class ends in 4 minutes!"

Bonnie let out a triumphant giggle. "Yes! Yes yes YES!" _That was sooo much fun! I could do this all day! _

"Bonnie! That was amazing!" The blond turned to look at her best friend, her grin practically leaping off her face.

"I know! Did you see that jump? Wasn't that a fun game!!" The blonde's face immediately turned into a childish look of concern as her friend winced. "Colette, what's wrong? Did you hurt something? Your knee?! Did the other team attack you behind my back while I was spiking?!"

"Bonnie! You're doing it again." Colette tugged her brown braid apologetically. "Being a little over hyper, I mean."

"Oh! Oh, sorry, I just can't!- Uh, I like being happy." Bonnie concentrated hard on holding a normal sized smile in place.

"I know, I know. By the way, what'd you do for the science project?"

Bonnie's eyes grew wide. "What science project?"

Colette gave her a wry look, "The one that's due today?"

Bonnie blinked.

"It's worth half our current grade, you know?" Colette couldn't help but feel the urge to giggle at her friend.

Bonnie blinked again.

"The one you promised your parents you wouldn't forget to do?"

"OH MY GOSH I TOTALLY FORGOT! AHHHHHHHH!" Bonnie ran out of the gym screaming, forgetting completely to change.

Colette heard the giggling from the other students as they listened to her friend slowly fade away down the hallway. She turned to them with a hard glare. "All right, who gave Bonnie sugar for lunch?" Most of the kids shuffled under her glare uncomfortably, but one of the boys was a dead giveaway with his twitching grin. Colette's face turned a dangerous shade of red. The boy saw this and immediately took off, dragging one of his friends with him. Colette screamed at his snickering back. "Timmy Dahwe! Your dead!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Tyrais entered the immensely quiet room, her violet eyes immediately locking onto the stone solid figure on the other side, typing on the giant computer. "Yakuro?" she walked up to his back, unsure of where to exactly place herself, "You feeling okay?"

His typing paused, though he had already heard her enter. "What? No snobby 'I told you so's?"

Her short hair frizzed with indignation. "Shut it, I don't need to take this from you. I have better things to do than-"

"You already proved you were ticked at me before, Tyrais." His typing resumed, with a little more force than before. "Remember? I admitted that not only did the stupid mew beat the Chimera Anima, but I _told _my name to her." His typing was controlled; otherwise the keys would probably break by the amount of force he wished to put on them. "And _now_, I find that not only did Mew Freedom get away, but the stupid girl who had been with her was the second mew."

_What? _This was news to Tyrais. "When'd you find out?"

"Just now when you _barged_ into my room." The yellow-eyed alien stated primly.

Tyrais's mini-tank and skirt swished with her protesting stomp. "I came to check on you!"

"I don't require a baby sitter."

Her face flushed a dark red under her olive skin. "Fine then! Next time I won't come in and make sure you didn't commit suicide and abandon us all!"

Yakuro sprang from his seat, turning his hot anger on her equally venomous rage. "Please, as if you were worried! It's always about you, you, you!"

"You're nothing but a hot headed bag of air!"

"You're just a selfish, self-centered, over achieving cat!"

"Uppity jerk!"

"Thoughtless scrooge!"

"Pig-headed!"

"Ugly!"

"FAILURE!"

"SHUT-UP!" Yakuro shoved her off balance, his eyes widening into a crazy glare. "Never call me that, NEVER! I am _not _a failure! I'm not! GET, OUT, NOW!"

Tyrais hid her hurt face by covering it with a furious glare. With a swish of frizzed hair and a squeak of her boots being abruptly turned, she stalked out of the room, wishing the automatic doors would pick up on the mood and slam shut behind her.

_Yakuro, you jerk… _Her glare drained into a sad face on the verge of tears. How had this happened? They had been such good friends when they were little, before his mom had… Did he remember? Did he ever think of how they always laughed and were comrades? Did he ever miss not being a control freak and making sure others listened to him? _I miss the old Yakuro._

She remembered one memory of him when they had first become friends. As a school trip they had gone to the chemical labs to see some experiments. Him and Tyrais were the highest in their class. _Over achieving, _her mind recalled Yakuro just stating. They had both by far excelled in the grade expectations. During the chemical show he had come up to her carrying a stopped glass tube that held a lovely indigo gas.

"You see this?" He asked her, his yellow eyes bright as he smiled.

Tyrais had examined it closely, her long braided hair tilting to favor one shoulder. "What is it?" she had asked curiously.

"It's called chemical O34, you're just like it." He held it out for closer inspection. "You're pretty, just like the color, but your prettiness also makes you dangerous. O34 can knock you right out if your not careful."

She had blushed at his flattery. "You're right, it _is _just like me!"

Tyrais could see it now. His glossy hair shimmering in the lab lights as it was tossed around by his excited little head. She thought longingly of his yellow eyes that always sparkled with the thought of a new challenge. That happy smile and laugh he had always had…

"Tyrais?"

Tyrais nearly jumped out of her skin at the voice. She whirled around to find Xakiteu had come up behind her. His eyes widened as he assessed her and with a pang she remembered her tears. "What's wrong, Xakiteu?" she asked brusquely, sliding her hand quickly across her eyes to hide the evidence.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"Then… I want to help Yakuro, Tyrais."

She looked at the blond boy in surprise. _He's always so serious. Darn that Yakuro, it's his fault. _She thought about it, Xakiteu's red eyes trying to scrutinize her thoughts. "You know…" she glanced back at him. "It's not a bad idea, Yakuro needs a break. How about me and you go on a 'scouting' mission, and see what we can do?"

The young boy dove right in. "You mean lie behind Yakuro's back?"

"I mean," she soothed sensibly, "give Yakuro some time to recover, and maybe even eliminate a problem or two for him. He'd be happier if some certain mews were out of World Domination's way."

Xakiteu looked at her uncertainly. "Well… so long as he won't be mad…"

_What he won't know won't hurt his huge brain. _"Don't worry," she quickly intervened, "I'll take care of everything." _Over achiever_, Yakuro's voice murmured in her head. She winced. "Well, you can get the teleportation system ready. Set it for the mew mew base."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"For the last time chica, I'm not putting it on."

Freedom groaned with wavering patience, "_Please_, Cinnamon, don't call me _chica_. And you have to wear it! It's the café's official uniform!"

"If you thrust that mound of frilliness at me again, I'll _burn _it."

Freedom's mouth opened and closed. She wasn't sure if it was physically safe for her to protest against the older Mexican. They had been struggling like this for 20 minuets, Ryo had shown Cinnamon the ropes, and the girl had promptly stated that she would 'never allow herself to be seen wearing such chorreras costumes'. Instead of Ryo being a dutiful adult, he told Freedom to convince her and ran off to work the shop. _The jerk! I'm asking for a raise after this! _Her day hadn't been that great anyway, after Sass stomped off, she had apparently failed her math test, and then almost got ran over after school when she raced to the café so as to not be late (which she was anyway). But did Ryo care? Did Ryo, her boss, say 'I understand, don't worry about it', no, he said that Freedom should learn to be more responsible and had to stay late cleaning tonight. _Its amazing how one random guy can totally kill my way of life. _Freedom focused back to the problem at hand.

"Look Cinnamon, I _really _have to go. My brother's getting out of school in," she glanced down at her watch, her eyes growing huge, "right now?! Oh man, oh man." Without thinking she shoved the dress towards Cinnamon, who expertly dodged it. "Just put this on and do the job thing! I gotta go!"

Cinnamon watched as Freedom race out of the room mumbling something about 'unjust punishments'. She glanced down at the obnoxious outfit, wondering how quickly she could incinerate it. _After all, she _did _thrust it at me, I told her not too._

Just then Ryo glanced into the room, "Hey, where'd Freedom go?"

Cinnamon leveled a stare at him. "Who knows." Ryo cocked an eyebrow, and then looked down at her uniform. "I'm not wearing it." She said in a voice that made people less inclined to argue with her.

Ryo sighed. "We'll talk about this later. Go and help out in the kitchen, I'll see if Retasu can play waitress for today."

Cinnamon followed him out with a satisfied smirk.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Wow, what happened to you?" Freedom looked down at her little brother and his friend in surprise.

Timothy Dahwe glared up at his older sister in defiance. "Noth'in." He mumbled.

Freedom rolled her eyes. "Timmy, you guys look like you just took a dirt bath, if mom sees you like this, _I'll _get in trouble. She'll want to know how it happened anyway-"

"So leave it up to mom then!" His blue eyes blazed angrily.

Freedom glanced over at his friend, setting her glare for tell-or-else mode. "Rickie, what happened?"

Rickie was a rather pudgy 3rd grader who usually came and hung out at the Dahwe residence on weekends. For the most part, he was a polite kid and did what he was told. It was Timmy who usually brought out his bad more mischievous side. Now, however, he looked between the frightening teen and angry friend, not sure whom to side with.

"_Rickie_." Freedom pressed.

"He… uh, we gave Bonnie sugar." Timmy smacked the back of Rickie's head, making the poor unfortunate friend protest along the lines of 'she made me!'.

Freedom gave her brother a surprised look. "So you gave some kid sugar, that doesn't explain the coated-in-dirt thing."

"Yeah it does!" Timmy's hair bobbed in outrage. "If Bonnie gets sugar, she gets _real _hyper, and it's funny! But she's not supposed to eat sugar, so we tricked her, and when Colette found out-"

"Who's Colette?"

"Bonnie's best friend."

"Ah."

"So when she found out, and she got another group of girls and threw dirt at us!"

_I think I like Colette. _Freedom sighed heavily. "You get yourself in the weirdest kinds of trouble kid."

"Hey!" Timmy shouted in protest, but Freedom quickly cut him off. She grabbed Rickie and Timmy's hand and towed them towards the school.

"C'mon, We'll see if we can wash you up so it only looks like you _tripped _into a mud hole."

After forcing them inside and dragging them over to the restrooms she went and waited by the large gym, praying they knew how to wash themselves. Freedom glanced in and found the elementary volleyball team was having a practice.

One kid, a little blond haired girl, was kicking butt. Anytime the ball came near her side, she was suddenly springing into the air and shooting it down to the opposing teams floor. It also appeared the other team was used to this, as they rarely made a run for the ball and just submissively excepted defeat.

"That's her." Came a sulky voice behind Freedom, who turned to regard her younger brother, who actually cleaned up pretty well. "Bonnie," he indicated the yellow headed ball of energy, "is the best at volleyball, and she's real funny."

Freedom raised her eyebrows at the way he was speaking. _No way, Timmy _likes _a _girl_? _"Is she smart?" She asked neutrally.

"She's blond." He stated simply, though he grinned when he said it.

"Do you know her well?" Freedom asked with a cat's grin in her voice.

Timmy was too quick for her. He turned and regarded her hauntingly. "No, she's just easy to pick on."

"Alright then." _I'll get it out of Ricky later. _"Let's go grab your friend and head home, I have to get back to work." She took one last glance at her brother's crush, who had just won the game for her side, before following her brother.

**I know, simple, but hey, it gave you a **_**few **_**smiles, right??? Eh, I know I don't deserve it with my intense slowness, but would you review?? Let me know if you have any ideas on how to proceed, 'cause I have one, but I love getting feedback on what I should do. HAVE A GOOD N OVEMBER!**


	11. Two New Enemies

**OMG it's so long! Feel free to break before finishing this one. I'M SORRY I MADE YOU ALL WAIT SO LONG! I have plenty of excuses in mind, but all of them aren't worth the breath of day. I wanted to write SO MUCH for this and yet wrote SO LITTLE in the time I thought of it! But enough remorse, full apology at the end. Enjoy!**

"Freedom! Could you help me in the kitchen?" Mrs. Dahwe called from the other room as her daughter came in with Timmy and Rickie. Freedom groaned loudly for her mom to hear, trying to emphasis her mood before she made any actual contact with the higher authority.

Trying to maintain two elementary students all the way home was hard, especially when they wanted Freedom to make up a story for them so they wouldn't get in too much trouble (apparently, her excuses were legendary in the two boys' opinions). When she had flat out refused for the 8th time, they decided it'd be fun to run ahead and behind for her to try and catch till they got home. To sum it up, Timothy was greatly reducing his chances of living a long and prosperous life.

Rickie and Timmy now both seemed to realized this, as they rocketed up the steps before a certain older sister could initially tattle tale out of spite (the thought that Mrs. Dahwe could ask something of _them _as well and get them to come within eye contact of her also helped them up and out of sight).

_Lucky for them I'm feeling generous. _Freedom heatedly thought. Her older brother merely glanced at their dirty appearance as they ran past with no more than raised eyebrows before allowing himself to be immersed by some news about a massive fire in the western states.

With a pang Freedom realized that if Mrs. Dahwe had heard her warning groan, she was ignoring it. "Unfortunately for you," her mother continued from the kitchen, as apparently she hadn't stopped talking before. _Great, I have no clue what she said earlier._ "I'm making Down-Home Meat Loaf, and I need someone to work on the salad."

Freedom ears twitched suddenly as they comprehended her mother's vocabulary. _Meat Loaf? That's beef, right? Oh boy, BEEF! _"Meat loaf? Sounds great!" She could just imagine the beef, bright red and juicy, tender to the touch, giving off the most tantalizing scent…

It took her a few moments to realize that the entire house had gone weirdly silent. Scott even moved his immobile head from the TV news to look at her like she was crazy. "Honey…?" Mrs. Dahwe called from the kitchen. "…I thought you didn't like meat loaf?"

"You've hated eating cows ever since you were _born_." Her brother emphasized.

Freedom looked blankly at her brother. _Oh my gosh, their right! What's wrong with me?! Cows stink! They're dirty, sloppy… Quick Freedom, think up one of your amazing excuses! _"I… was joking!"

_Great excuse._

Freedom scoffed good-naturedly at Scott's now furrowed brow. "Jeez you guys, can't you tell? I _hate _meat loaf, you know that! Its just… well, maybe I should try it, you know, just… cause…" It appeared that Scott thought that an alien had walked into his home, and he was contemplating whether or not to attack it and ask where it had taken his _real _sister. Freedom tried to ignore her brother's shrewd gaze as she called toward the kitchen. "But anyway mom, I can't stay." _Time to change the subject, _fast_!_ "Remember? I signed up for that job this weekend, which I'm _missing _right now."

Freedom listened in as her mom mumbled a surprise 'shoot!' before raising her voice back to her daughter. "I had completely forgotten that!" _I thought so_, the mew smiled pleasantly, her plan working out just as she had wanted. "Alright, sorry about that sweetie, we'll see you tonight!"

"'K, later!" Freedom turned and hurried out the door, with a wavering, "See you Scott!" As her feet began pumping her back to the café, she kept feeling sick as her mind fought between her mood being disgusted at the thought of eating cow, or finding it absolutely _relishing_.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Where have you been?!" Ryo hissed accusingly at his employee, trying hard not to draw his customers' attention. "My wife has had to ask orders and bring the food out, and that's _your job_."

"Don't you think I know that?" Freedom whispered just as harshly, "I had to pick up my little bro, know why? For _being late _getting home on Friday, since after all I couldn't very well _tell _my mom that a _giant purple rodent _attacked me and a random _guy _who is now my _boss _turned me into a_ cat-thing_! And by the way, I _HATE _cow! But now I can't get the thought of eating it out of my mind! Anything I do wrong now is _your fault_!"

Ryo groaned. _I forgot what a pain teens could be. _"Yeah, okay. Head to the back and get in uniform. Don't forget that you have to stay later tonight to help clean up."

"_That's your fault too_!" She snarled quietly as she passed him to get to the back room.

_Good God, I try my hardest to save the world from enslavement to the Cyniclons, and what do I get for it? A cranky Ichigo Jr._ Ryo surveyed his customer's briefly before heading back in.

As he pushed open the kitchen doors he was greeted with a bright smile from his wife. _She's so gorgeous. _Ryo returned the warm smile. "How are the customers doing?" Lettuce asked him sweetly.

"No one's freaking out yet; I think we're doing pretty well." He walked over and kissed her tenderly on the cheek, making her blush. "Oh," he added as he moved some loose hairs from his wife's face. "Freedom's back, she should be here in a minute."

"Took her long enough."

Ryo turned to regard the second mew, Cinnamon. After bluntly refusing to wear the uniform, he had decided the only thing to do (till Freedom convinced her to where the uniform) was for her to work in the kitchen. Her hair was tied up in a messy bun, wearing sweatpants and a dark tee that seemed completely out of place in the café. To his surprise (and Retasu's delight), the young Mexican had a natural talent for making the delicate pastries, despite her obnoxious dislike for them. She might even, given a few years of practice; have a chance to be better than Keiichiro.

_I should look into how he's doing soon. _He mused to himself.

They all turned to the heavy footfalls as Freedom entered the kitchen. In her hurry she hadn't quite fitted one of her shoes on, and her quaint maid hairpiece was in rather silly disarray. "Okay, what do I do now?" She huffed as she tried to hold her foot up and fit the shoe on.

Lettuce came over immediately, before Ryo could snap at his employee, and helped her correctly arrange the headpiece. "Follow me out to the front and I'll show you," She smiled another of her bright smiles at the easily swayed girl. "I'll direct them to their seats, and then you'll take their orders and get them from the kitchen, if it gets too stressful, I'll be right there to help you."

Ryo and Cinnamon watched the two leave. After they were gone he turned to regard Cinnamon. "I'll need you to stay after we close, I think you and Freedom will have to check something out for me."

Cinnamon turned back to her work as if she had only looked at him and never heard what he said. "Whatever."

Ryo left for the basement muttering about 'moody females'.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"All right Freedom, here come some customers." Retasu vaguely gestured toward the window. "Remember what I said?"

"Yeah." Freedom felt somewhat nervous running around the café in her eye-opening uniform, but Mrs. Shirogane's encouragement were completely keeping her nerves at bay. The two that were coming looked to be a college couple; no doubt the male was forced to join his love out of proof that he would do anything for her. _Poor guy. _

As they entered she and Retasu acted completely business like, glancing there way but not letting on the excitement. Expertly Freedom turned and walked toward them, grabbing a menu in the process. _You got this Freedom, just remember what she showed you. It's all in the bag. _

Putting on a big smile Freedom looked up at the couple. "Welcome to Café Mew Mew! Would-"

Before she could continue the girlfriend, who let out a gleeful little giggle, interrupted her. "That is the most adorable uniform I've ever seen!"

_That was… weird. _"Uh, thank-you. Would-"

"Where was it made? I'm going into fashion design you know." She turned to regard her boyfriend. "Vince is going into the Musical Arts, aren't you dear? Anyway," she turned her focus back on the baffled waitress, "you _have _to tell me, I'm trying to find what companies I'm interested in, and that uniform is absolutely _bubbly_!"

Freedom forced a smile. _This uniform's not the only bubbly thing here. So much for having it in the bag. _"I actually don't know," she added a laugh that sounded a little too nervous, "I just wear what they tell me to. Um, follow me and I'll show you to your seat."

The woman, whom Freedom found out later was named Frederica (now making Esmond not the strangest name she'd ever heard), continued to bug her about the clothes, even after she brought them their orders. Finally, admitting defeat, she called Retasu over to see if the old mew could help her with the lady's questions.

Wearily Freedom trudged back to the front to help two more customers that were coming through the door. What _a day. It's not even 5 yet and I'm ready to collapse. _She grabbed the menus and walked over to the newcomers, whom she realized were both girls. "Welcome to Café Mew Mew! Would you…" She looked down at the blond girl and her brunette companion in surprise. "Oh, uh, please follow me this way."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Ryo turned from the piece of toast he had been cramming into his mouth to find his computer's lights blinking rapidly and looking for the entire world like it was having a seizure. Lucky for him he'd had soundproof walls installed. One particular light caught his interest. _Wow, can it be, already?_

He quickly rolled his chair over and started rewiring certain components of his computer, munching way vigorously at his toast. There were already two lights steadily illuminating the bottom right of his computer, and one of the remaining three was telling him that his café had just attracted the attention of his newest future employee.

_The 3__rd__ Mew._

After muting his alarm system he bolted up the steps to pinpoint the next hero, just at the last second remembering to act as though nothing was wrong. With a certain air of dignity he walked out to the café customers.

Unfortunately, because he muted it, he failed to notice the other two dots that were now within the café limits as well.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"So, what will your order be?" Freedom tried to keep the sly grin off her face, but she couldn't stop the words from wringing in her head. _This is Timmy's crush, this is Timmy's crush, this is Timmy's crush, HA! _

The brunette, or rather, Bonnie's best friend Colette spoke up first. "Can I have the Creamy Lemon Square? With a water?"

"Sure thing," Freedom turned back to the little blond, "How about you? Anything you have questions on?"

In comparison to how the little thing had appeared at the school, she was completely opposite now. The best words Freedom could think to describe her as were pouty, sulky, and sad.

"Do you happen to have anything on the menu that doesn't have sugar?"

_Oh, _Freedom raised her eyebrows in realization, _oh my gosh, how does she live?! This kid is so deprived…_

"What can I do for you ladies?"

Freedom spun around to face her boss in surprise. _What's he doing up here? _"Uh, Mr. Shirogane, do we happen to have anything on the menu… not involving sugar?"

He gave her a look that told her _What are you thinking, no sugar in a sweet shop? _But instead of acting on these obvious thoughts he turned and immediately regarded Bonnie. "Well, if you're alright with it, you can follow Freedom to the back and see if the cook has anything special in the recipe book."

_What's he trying to pull? Since when does a customer get to go in a café's kitchen? _A thought immediately sprung to her mind, but she dashed it. She gave an encouraging smile to Bonnie. "_Would _you like to?" A now excited nod told Freedom all she needed. "Follow me, then." She glanced back at Colette, who looked happy that her friend might enjoy the café as well. "I'll bring your Creamy Lemon out when were done, 'kay?" Freedom took one last look at her boss (who intern gave her a look that said 'get going!'), before heading towards the obnoxious doors. _Nah, he must just have a soft spot for sugar-deprived adolescents. No _way _she's the 3__rd__ mew. _

XXXXXXXXXXXX

_THERE IS YET HOPE!!_

Bonnie wanted to bounce on all the walls and then do it again, at _last_! A sweet shop that might hold non-sugary sweets!! Well, it _was _technically a café, but what did it matter the title? She knew it embarrassed Colette when she could eat but her best friend couldn't. _But maybe now it won't have to be like that anymore! Maybe I'll come every night and eat whatever not-sweet sweet it is. And then I'll be a regular customer! And they'll know me by name! And they'll say, 'the usual, Bonnie?'. OH! _That _would be _sooo _much FUN!_

As they passed through the doors to the kitchen, Bonnie's eyes interlocked with two other ladies. One had dark brown hair and a rather scary stare, while the other had green hair and bespectacled eyes that looked rather surprised to see Bonnie. "Freedom, who is this?"

"This is Bonnie, Shirogane asked me to take her back here and see if we had anything… non-sugary."

Bonnie turned her eyes in wide wonder on the waitress. "How'd you know my name? Are you telepathic? Can I be telepathic?!"

The black haired waitress looked at her in alarm. "W-what? Uh, no! I'm not telepathic. I, uh, heard your friend call you that." She laughed nervously as Bonnie kept staring at her.

_She MUST be telepathic, Colette never said my name! Or did she? Maybe I didn't notice because I got all excited about the idea of non-sugary sugary food. Sugar tastes so good, I wish I _could _eat it... _Bonnie slumped her shoulders in self-pity. "Okay…"

The waitress seemed to cave under her sad face. "Well, who knows, _I _might not be telepathic, but, uh, you never know, maybe you have that special something…"

Bonnie glanced up at her with a huge smile. "Thanks lady!"

The green haired woman came over. "So your name is Bonnie? It's a pleasure to meet you my dear." The woman held out her little hand, which Bonnie shook enthusiastically.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too! So what's your name? And who's the sour lady in the back?"

"What'd she just call me?" The brown-haired girl turned threateningly towards her. "Did you just call me a _agrie grump viejo_?"

Bonnie looked at her wide-eyed. "I don't even know what _you _just said! I said sour lady, so what's your name?" _Wow, her eyes are HUGE! I wonder if she know's that she's not as pretty when she clenches her teeth… _

The waitress, was it Freedom? Firmly grabbed the little blonde's shoulders and positioned herself in front of Bonnie, cutting her line of vision from the other girl. "Well, Bonnie, this nice lady with green hair is Mrs. Shirogane, and over there's Cinnamon. Now let's look in those cook books over there, 'kay?"

As Bonnie was ushered farther away from the scary cook towards the books (and Mrs. Shirogane went over and tried to soothe the gangster's pride), Ryo barged in.

His eyes immediately scanned the room until it hung on Bonnie. "Alright, what's your name?"

"I'm Bonnie!" Bonnie vaguely heard a sound of disgust come from the corner where Cinnamon was.

"Okay, Bonnie. I was wondering, has anything strange recently-"

"WHAT?!" Everyone turned to look at Cinnamon's flustered face, her brown eyes glaring fiercely into the little girl's. "Oh no, oh _Cristo _no! There is no way! _No way _that she's a mew!"

Freedom looked at Ryo in shock. "Really? Her?"

Shirogane nodded. "90% positive. Bonnie, do you have any strange marks on you that you don't remember having before?"

Bonnie looked at him wide eyed, "What's a mew?"

Ryo rubbed the back of his neck somewhat agitatedly. How does he explain this to someone her age? He never had to tell Pudding, the other girl's had done that for him. "A mew… they're a secret super hero. And I'm pretty sure your one of them. It's… like that one cartoon… superman?"

The little blonde's mouth formed a perfect 'O' of astonishment. "Superman?! Really? I get to be superman? No, wait! Super_girl_?"

Freedom leaned down, gesturing loosely for Bonnie to be quieter. "Not exactly, a mew's… like, a normal person who gets to also turn into some kind of animal."

"Really? Can I be a cat then?!"

"I'm a cat…"

"Colette can be a cat too!"

"No, she can't, Bonnie." The girl turned to look at Mr. Shirogane again. He folded his arms and looked sternly down at her. "Only you are a mew, and no one can know that about you. It's a very important secret."

Bonnie frowned. _But, Colette would think this is so cool, I don't know… _"If Colette can't be a mew, I don't want to be one either."

Ryo suppressed a loud groan. Why couldn't they just say 'Sure boss, whatever you say!'? "You don't really have a choice, we can't _unmake _mews."

Cinnamon groaned mournfully somewhere behind Bonnie.

_No! This isn't fair! _"But I don't want to be a mew! Not if Colette can't be one!"

"Bonnie," The green haired lady spoke up, "I know this is hard, and little girl's like you shouldn't have to do things like this, but we _need _you on the team. Without all the mews, our chances of beating the Cyniclons-"

"What's a Cyniclon?"

Shirogane placed a gentle hand on his wife's shoulder. "The point Retasu is trying to make, is if you don't join, people like Colette might get hurt because they can't fight the bad guys."

_Colette would get hurt?! This is bad, mommy would get worried about me, but I _have _to help them if I don't want Colette to get hurt… But wait. This is just like an adventure, right? Wow! If I really AM a super hero, I'll get to have LOTS of adventures!! _"Okay! I'll be a mew."

Ryo nodded, glad he had gotten through to her. "Well, you're not a mew until your DNA reacts, but good. Remember, this has to be a secret, and we'll need you to come around here a lot. Will you be able to do that?" After some rather cute pondering looks, the girl eagerly nodded her head. "Good, here." He handed her the pendant. "You're not a mew yet, but you never know."

Freedom bent down and showed her own pendant to Bonnie. "I have one too, whenever you're in trouble, you hold on to it and say 'Transform!', 'kay?"

Bonnie looked back up to Freedom. "So you're a super hero too?"

The girl looked taken aback. "I… guess. Yeah, I'm a super hero," she smiled at Bonnie again, "and so is Cinnamon, and so are you, come back sometime and we'll look into that non-sugary sweet for you."

"AWESOME!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Tyrais and Xakiteu simultaneously teleported out and away from the café. "I can't believe this!" Tyrais's purple eyes glinted with alarm. "They're popping up like daisies! How long before they find the others? Xakiteu, we have our work cut out for us."

The young Cyniclon's eyes blazed red. "What do you want us to do? And why didn't we just attack them in the café?"

"Xakiteu, it'd be a death wish to attack on their own ground with no plan actually made. Besides, Yakuro would of given us one heck of an ear ache if we openly attacked in front of all those other humans." Tyrais played over everything in her mind. They had entered right into the lab room, and were rather shocked at the technology Shirogane had. Not that it mattered anymore, that was all taken care of. She smirked as she imagined the Ryo guy's face as he entered in and found nothing but rubble. _If nothing else, Yakuro will be pleased with _that_. _They had peeked their heads in and heard the whole ordeal about the baby human being a mew mew too. Tyrais had recognized Mew Freedom, and the second mew, who looked even more formidable than the first.

_That mew Freedom, if she didn't have such grotesque and shrunken ears, she might actually look pretty. _Her hair frizzed indignantly at her next thought. _Maybe prettier than me… _

"Tyrais, the smaller mew is leaving."

Startled out of her thoughts, Tyrais turned to follow Xakiteu's gaze. The small blond human was indeed leaving, with a brunette little human as well. They had heard Shirogane tell her not to tell anything about being a mew, and it looked like so far she hadn't.

"Should we kill her?" Xakiteu's eyes glittered intensely at the tiny figure. _You know, he's not much taller than her, _Tyrais realized, somehow forgetting the problem at hand.

She looked back down as the two departed, her mind all ready whirring with ideas. "Not yet. I want you to follow her, wait until she's alone, and then kill her. If her mew powers aren't working yet, than she'll be an easy target."

His intense gaze turned to her. "And what about you?"

Tyrais looked at him in surprise. "I stay and wait to take on the other two. It won't take long for them to find their main operations room trashed, and then they'll figure out that we're after them. When they come looking for the miniature twerp, I'll attack them and buy you more time." She caught his indignant air and amended her statement. "If you need it, of course."

Xakiteu said nothing but turned back towards the small departing figure.

"We'll meet up later." Tyrais said as dismissal.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"I had no clue you would be so excited about this Bonnie, they didn't even tell you if they had food that you could eat." Colette looked over at her best friend, feeling somewhat confused at her hyper state.

Bonnie turned and gave a big reassuring smile to her friend, though her eyes looked rather pleading. "I know, I know! But they said they might have one next time, that's why I'm excited!"

"Okay, if you say so…" Colette pressed her take-home box against her shirt for comfort, wishing Bonnie hadn't wanted them to leave so quickly. The girl had a feeling that something wasn't right between them. _Maybe she was really disappointed, maybe I shouldn't have dragged her with me to café Mew Mew, but it looked so amazing! It WAS amazing! _

"Colette?" Bonnie leaned in and frowned as she assessed her friend's look. "Don't worry! Really, there's nothing wrong! It's, I just can't tell you…"

_Oh no! It _was _something I did! _"Bonnie, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings by taking you there! I just really wanted to see it, and I was afraid to go alone… I knew you might not like it, and-" She was cut off as Bonnie placed her hand over her mouth.

"It's nothing like that Colette! Trust me, you didn't do anything to make me sad!" Bonnie smiled encouragingly. "You know me too well, I can't hide anything from you even if I tried."

Colette glanced away, embarrassed by the compliment. "Then what _is _bugging you?"

Bonnie's shoulders slumped. "I can't really tell you, I promised I wouldn't. It's nothing bad though! In fact, it's really _really _cool!"

Colette searched her friend for any other sign of a problem. "So, everything's okay then?"

"Absolutely!"

Colette sighed in relief. "Fair enough! Hey, since you didn't complete the project, what are you going to do for it?" Bonnie gasped, and Colette turned to her, already knowing. "You didn't bring home the paper for the project, did you?"

"I gotta go Colette, maybe the school's still open!"

"Now?" The brunette looked to the sky, "The sun's almost gone already! Your parents are gonna worry."

"They'll be more mad if they find out about the project!"

_I know she's right, but, it's dangerous for her to do that. She might get in trouble. _Colette frowned. "Okay, let's hurry back to the school and try it."

Bonnie looked at her in surprise, "Colette, your house is just around the corner! And I know your parents will be super ticked at you if you're late."

"What does that matter? You need help, right?"

Bonnie smiled brightly. "Colette, you're the best! But I can't let you, go home or I don't go for the project at all. It'll be fast and easy, and if it's locked, then it's locked!"

"Bonnie-"

"I promise to stay safe!"

"… Fine. But be sure to call me when you get home, I can help you with the project."

Bonnie smiled happily. "Totally!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Esa chica estúpida! I can't believe this! Por qué es que un mew? El odioso twerp!"

Freedom tried to remain calm as she went back to the kitchen to grab another order. Ever since Bonnie had left the kitchen, now a mew-to-be, Cinnamon had been grumbling and having random out bursts in Spanish the whole night. "Cinnamon, I know she called you sour, but…" _What am I supposed to say? That I thought she was a little more resilient to insults than this? That she's freaking out from what a little kid said?_

"No me gustan los niños!" She spit out as she shoved the plate in front of Freedom.

"What?"

"Look, I can't stand little cry-baby kids, okay? And that's the perfect crybaby if I ever saw one. And I'm stuck with her! Por qué yo?!" She stomped off back to her delicate pastries, muttering darkly to herself.

_And to think I thought she was tough! _Freedom passed the plate on to table 13, feeling disgruntled at how she had temporarily respected Cinnamon. _If she thinks Bonnie's annoying, I'd like to see her deal with Timmy! Hey, I _would _like to see that… _

Lettuce came out from the kitchen looking flustered. Frantically she gestured for Freedom to come over. _Did Cinnamon flip and start breaking dishes now? I didn't hear anything._ Lettuce glanced around before whispering to Freedom. "Something urgent has come up, I need to have you tell the customers it's time to close. I'll get the tables over here, and you go to the other side."

"What's happened?" Freedom's stomach did unpleasant flips at the distress in Retasu's voice.

"Not now, when everybody leaves."

Quickly Freedom (in her most pleasant waitress voice possible) asked for the people to go as soon as possible, and that she could get take-home boxes for their food.

Finally Freedom pleasantly waved the last group of customers good-bye and said to come again soon. She carefully turned the '_Closed_'' over to face the window and romped for the kitchen. Cinnamon and Mrs. Shirogane were towards the door leading to the hall. "So what's happened? Did the aliens attack?"

Cinnamon turned and regarded her seriously, her infuriation with a 3rd grader gone as if it had never been. "That, only worse."

"Follow me." Mrs. Shirogane stood unsteadily and went downstairs, the two waitresses following her. The sight that greeted Freedom brought forth a shocked gasp. Ryo's computer, and any other piece of technology in the room, was either sparking in a dangerous manner or smoking in rubble.

_Oh crap. _"That alien Yakuro did this?"

Ryo turned from where he had been kneeling and working frantically to salvage his data. "It looks that way. I had muted the alarm system when Bonnie came in and I went upstairs to find her. They must of come in at that time, and I never realized it." Freedom was somewhat taken aback by the frustrated anger in his voice. _That is ONE person I don't want to mess with. I guess this means I can't ask for that raise though…_

Something in her mind suddenly clicked. "Bonnie! What if they heard-"

"Exactly." His hands moved about with a frustrated air. "You and Cinnamon go out and look for her, or any alien activity. Your pendants have a communications system built in them, but Bonnie doesn't know how to use hers, it'd be pointless to try them. Hurry and go while me and Retasu stay here and try to get things back up and running." He looked at Cinnamon, "You have your cell on you?"

She raised hers up in reply.

"I'll go change." Freedom bolted up the stairs as fast as she could. _Bonnie's in trouble. Bonnie, the little 3__rd__ grader who's good at volleyball and my brother has a crush on, is a target for that stupid alien Yakuro!_

**I know… so long… and I had wanted it longer. ;) Okay: To all of those whom it may apply, be they those who added my story to favorites or on alert. I now here sincerely apologize for the long wait. I cannot nor will ever promise swift and quick chapters. It's not my style, I like checking things at least 3 times over. Anyway, thank-you, despite my time lapse, for reading my story. You have no clue how happy that makes me, seriously.**

**If you still have the heart to do so, I would appreciate thoughts on this chapter. Till next time (which hopefully won't be too long like this time!!)**

**~Ally**


	12. Little Bunny Bonnie

**Oh my gosh this has to be my longest chapter yet, and I wasn't even done with it!!! I've enjoyed making this one a lot, and I have to say it's really fun to write out Bonnie's personality. And Freedom's! Cinnamon… she scares me (that's right, my own character scares me). Anyway! Here ya go! And happy SPRING BREAK!! XD**

It was open!

It only took 5 minutes to go around the school before noticing the open window to the gym. Like she had told Colette, if it was locked, then it was locked! She felt pretty lucky that that one window had stayed _un_locked. Taking the fire escape up and using what she had learned in gymnastics to do the rest, Bonnie had gotten into the school in no time.

As she suspected, her papers still lay right next to the gym door, right where she had put them to make sure she wouldn't forget them after volley ball practice. She beamed brightly at them in the waning light, only slightly brightened by the turned on streetlights. "Found you! You annoying project paper!"

Picking it up, she thought about what Mr. Shirogane had asked her, about anything strange happening. And she had realized it as she shimmied up that pipe that something had happened! She had been waiting a few days back at the neighborhood park for Colette when the earth had begun shaking like crazy. She had woken up on the slide with Colette looking down at her. When she had mentioned the earth shaking, Colette interrogated her thoroughly as to what she had eaten and who gave her what to eat. Bonnie had thought maybe she was right and it was just sugar, but now, what if it had to be with her being a super hero?

Three lights flashed brightly behind her and she turned to see what had caused it. Her mouth dropped open in astonishment as she looked up, three giant ants with red eyes floated above her, about ¾'s up to the top of the room.

"Are you ready?"

Bonnie gasped as she took in the figure also floating among them. He had blonde hair, blonder than hers, and piercing red eyes just like the ants. But he looked so weird! "Why are your ears so big?"

He frowned down at her. "My ears aren't big, yours are just puny. _Are you ready_?"

Her heart jumped a little at the way his voice strained the last words. "For what?"

His frown twisted into a smirk as the ants were lower by some invisible force to the ground. "To die."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Taruto opened his eyes and found himself hovering around in a sea of white. _What the, where the heck is this? _Taruto opened his mouth to call out to see if anyone else was there, but jerked in surprise as his throat flared into a retching cough. _Ow! My throats on fire! _Tart worked hard to calm himself down so that his breath came out in clean, ragged gasps.

"Taruto?"

Tart turned around and was sent into another fit of coughs in surprise. He looked up again in disbelieve. _PUDDING?_

He couldn't believe it, it was her!! She hadn't changed a bit! About twenty feet away from him, he could tell her clothes were still modeled after the Chinese style, and her short braids were still firmly placed behind her. _Pudding! Is it really you? What are you doing here?_

She must have heard his thoughts, because she gave him a big smile, the kind that he secretly always loved to see. "Hey Taru-taru!" She giggled happily as his cheeks reddened at his old nickname. Her brown eyes met his, "I'm so glad to see you Taru-taru!"

Tart broke into a run towards her, ignoring his flaming lungs. _Pudding! I'm so glad to see you to! How'd you get here?! _With a pang, Tart realized he was going rather slowly, and that the yellow mew was getting farther away for some reason. _Pudding! Wait, stop! _

She seemed to sense something was wrong, "Taruto?"

His lungs were killing him! _No! Call me Taru-taru! _Nothing seemed to change though, and she didn't stop getting smaller.

Pudding seemed to find that she couldn't change this fact, and smiled brightly at him. "I'll see you later Taru-taru! I'll bring some candy next time!"

_No! Forget the candy! Come back! Pudding! _The young Cyniclon had to stop, his lungs were going to burst along with burn away if he didn't. He felt an uncharacteristic urge to cry. _Please don't go Pudding? _But he knew, somehow, that this was useless.

Even from the huge distance that had now come between them, he could still make out her smile. "Taruto! Taruto!"

Tart found that her voice seemed to mix with someone else's that he knew, but he wasn't sure whom. She kept calling out his name, until gradually Pudding's voice faded out and the new voice was the only one left calling. Abruptly, the angry flames in his throat died away almost instantly, leaving behind only a cool, soothing sensation.

"Taruto… Taruto… Taruto…?"

It finally clicked for Taruto. _Wait, that's mom! Where's she? _He realized his eyes were closed, and he forced himself to open them. _Mom? Mom?_

Xx

Yakima nearly burst into tears when her son opened his eyes. "Taruto! Can you hear me baby? Blink if you hear me." The tears pricked impatiently at her eyes when he blinked. "Oh, oh Taruto!" She gripped his hand in her own. "It'll be alright baby, don't worry, it's going to be okay."

Taruto whispered something raggedly.

Yakima leaned down so her ear was a few inches from her son's lips. "Say it again?"

"… where'd Pudding go?…"

"Pudding?" Yakima looked at her son. "Who's Pudding?"

A quiet knock came from the door and Pai entered in. "Yakima, how's Taruto?"

Tart's mother turned excitedly towards him, her long hair flying. "He just woke up Pai-kun! The mew aqua extract worked wonderfully, he's already talking!"

The purple haired alien came over and looked down at his companion, who looked rather confused. "Just in case, lets have him wait a bit before he starts talking, it might injure him more."

Yakima turned to her son and kissed him gently on his forehead, causing the young Cyniclon to blush in embarrassment. "Alright then Taruto, let's do what Pai-kun says. I'll be right back." She turned and steered Pai out of the room and into the hallway.

The Cyniclon looked at her in surprise. "Is there something wrong, Yakima-san?"

She looked away slightly, "Nothing really, are you and Kish feeling better?"

Pai frowned. "Yes, Kish has now been pronounced full recovery as well as me, though I think Tart might take a bit longer. We're working on locating Geberot even as we speak. He won't be able to get far once news has spread of his treachery." Pai placed a calculating glance at Taruto's mother. "If I may be bold, it feels as though you asked to see me for a different reason, are you sure nothing's wrong?"

"…_where'd Pudding go?…" Could it be… _"I was wondering, I understand (as does most of the counsel) that Kisshu had, felt romantically towards one of the Mews. Did Taruto… meet anyone as well?"

Pai was rather taken aback by this question. "Where did this question come from?"

Yakima looked down at the ground. "Well, just now when Taruto woke up, he had asked where Pudding had gone." The youngest counsel member did not miss the purple Cyniclon's jump. "It's a mother's instinct to know these things, and I know every girl that Tart could have ever met, and _none _had such a strange name as that." She looked him up squarely in the face. "You can't lie to me, Pai-kun, it's clear to see you know who this is. Tell me."

Pai looked into the mother's firm eyes. "… Yes, I do know who Pudding is. She is, was, the youngest mew for Tokyo Mew Mew. But, if you wish to know more, I think it's best if your son explains who she is to you." He turned and began to walk away, but Yakima's instincts caught him yet again.

"Pai," she ran up and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, "you all ended up leaving someone behind, didn't you?"

The purple alien turned and frowned gently. "Yakima-"

"Pai!" Kish rounded the far corner and came running fast towards them. "Something's up with the communication's system!"

Pai's attention was effectively diverted. "What happened?"

"That's the thing, oh, hey Yakima-san." Kish inclined his head slightly. "It's not picking up a signal, at all."

Pai's eyebrows shot up and then furrowed deeply. "What now?"

Without turning, both Kish and Pai teleported away, leaving a knowing Yakima behind.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Tyrais's eyes gleamed as she watched two figures run out the back door from the café, following the way the little mew had gone. "Show time." She glided effortlessly after them, quickly noting the dark street up ahead they would have to turn into.

Xx

"Are you sure about this?" Cinnamon called as they raced down the street.

Freedom turned and nodded her head slightly, "Yeah, I watched both of them go, and this is the way they went."

"Do you have anything else to go with when we get to the end of the road?"

"Um… no. I don't know what else to do after this."

Cinnamon groaned with frustration. _This chica, what the heck are we supposed to do to help the cry-baby? _Their surroundings were no longer well lit, and even for Cinnamon, who was used to rather dark expeditions, felt her nerves go taut. _If I have any instincts at all from being in my gang all these years, something's about to go down… _

Xx

Freedom ran for all she was worth, hating how useless she felt. _Which way did she go? Which way?! _

She nearly tripped herself as her senses suddenly were heightened beyond anything she was used to. She could smell the individual cars that had passed by, she could smell the different animals, the people who had gone passed! They passed like a rainbow of new colors through her nose, each and every one more fascinating than the last. _Wow, this is… different. Hey! I smell that one lady who came in with her boyfriend… and she wore more perfume than I had realized, wow. _Freedom's nose twitched as her senses ran through all the new smells, or rather, the _heightened _smells. _Mmm, someone had a hotdog earlier, that smells heavenly… wait, I can smell Cinnamon! Wow, she smells like vanilla, that's weird. And that kiddish sent with strawberry lip-gloss, that's Colette's scent! _She sniffed more, and found that she could almost 'see' the scent, and this one in particular was closely followed by something with the scent of school-gym-sweat and mint gum.

It was Bonnie!

"Cinnamon, she went right! Turn right!"

"What makes you say that?"

"I can smell her!"

"Qué?" The older girl glanced at her companion with a furrowed brow. "Have you lost your senses?"

_No, _Freedom thought smugly, _I just had them heightened is all._

Freedom distinctly heard Cinnamon gasp as they ran under the last light. "Chica, qué diablos? Your ears are out!"

_What's that supposed to mean? _Freedom thought in confusion until she noticed just how much her ears were twitching. She reached up to feel them and let out a small cry of astonishment. "What the heck?!" Her cat ears had replaced her human ears, but a quick look down told her that she hadn't transformed at anytime. She also took note that her tail was swishing behind her as well. _Aw man why does the weird stuff happen to me?!_

As they turned right and entered the dark abyss waiting for them, a new scent came to Freedom's nose. Along with this, her ears picked up a strange gliding sound. Her tail swished irritably, and her eyes widened in realization. "Cinnamon, alien!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Lettuce was sitting in the café's kitchen waiting impatiently for the tea to warm up. She didn't feel right doing such a simple task when everyone else was working as had as they could to save the planet. _But what could I do? I'm not a true Mew anymore, I can't just go and attack the Chimera Animas. And I can't help Ryo with the computer either. I feel so useless! _The kettle started singing, temporarily distracting Mrs. Shirogane from her anguish.

Bringing the tea down, she found Ryo had at last made some progress. He was back in the chair, typing frantically at the keyboard. "Is it back up now?" Retasu rushed over to see.

Ryo continued to type sporadically, occasionally stuffing a CD into the machine to burn info or taking it out after doing so. "Not quite, most of the saved files had extra protection, so our information database isn't missing too much. But I can't access the map or communication with the Cyniclons." The computer flashed red momentarily and Ryo let out some profanities until it disappeared.

Lettuce placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Do you know how our girl's are doing?"

Ryo turned briefly away and looked at his wife. "I really wish I knew, Retasu." He went back to his typing.

_There must be _something _I can do! _Lettuce thought agitatedly.

And then she realized that there _was _something.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Cinnamon, alien!"

The Mexican turned and saw that Freedom had been right. _Great, just great. _They couldn't rightly make him out, but the outline with the outrageous ears was enough.

"Yakuro, where's Bonnie?!" Freedom yelled up heatedly at him, her tail bristling angrily. "Tell us right now!"

But to their shock, it wasn't Yakuro who spoke.

"Sorry Mews, Yakuro's busy." The Cyniclon glided down till she was standing on firm ground about 10 feet behind them. _Saint Mary! There's a girl one too?! _Cinnamon found that she had short dark blue hair, the kind that you could only tell was dark blue if it was put against black hair, and was sporting a short tank top and mini skirt with knee length boots. Though she couldn't tell, this Cyniclon seemed smaller than the last one, more delicate. Her violet eyes penetrated the night as she looked at them. "The name's Tyrais, and no need for you to introduce yourselves, I already know who you are." Cinnamon silently cursed at the girl's smirk.

"I suppose you figured out who we were after trashing the café, right?" Freedom's ears had flattened down while her tail twitched agitatedly behind her.

Tyrais laughed loudly and leaned back on her heels, somehow remaining upright despite her unbalanced appearance. "So you found that, we did a pretty good job, didn't we?" Her smirk turned into a devious frown. "But, no, Mew Freedom. I've known who you were ever since you first made trouble for Yakuro." She blew a few stray hairs out of her face. "Of course, you would have met me sooner, but Yakuro wanted to wipe you out himself. He unfortunately forgot that I came because I'm just as good a fighter."

Cinnamon grinned to herself in the dark, just by the way the Cyniclon had stated the first psychotic alien's name showed that she had feelings towards him, which meant _he _was _her _weakness. Even better yet, she had her own sensitive ego. "So it was too much for Yakuro to try and take over the world single-handedly? He had to depend on _you _to beat us?" Cinnamon smirked darkly at her opponent, practically seeing the tension build.

The girl's face went slightly darker, and her hair seemed to stand on end at the remark. "Yakuro was never working alone! I've been here since day one! I'm just as good a fighter, he just likes hogging the glory!"

"Mi mi, que no son sensibles?"

"What'd you just say?!"

"So where's Bonnie?" Freedom interrupted quickly. Cinnamon cast a glare towards her for ruining her fun.

The change of subject also seemed to soothe the lovely Cyniclon, as her smirk came back. "Why, she's playing with my partner right now. Last I heard, they were heading to her learning center to see how fast she could run."

Freedom's eyes widened while Cinnamon's narrowed. "Yakuro is attacking her?"

Tyrais floated back into the air. "Nah, Yakuro's sitting this one out right now. My other partner's playing with her, Xakiteu."

Cinnamon ground her teeth in frustration. The last battle had been won out of luck; Yakuro was a rather powerful psycho terrorist, despite his… methods. _And now we find out there's three of them?! Cristo! _

Naturally, Freedom voiced this. "There's three of you?!"

Tyrais gave a short laugh at Freedom's face. "What's the matter? Worried you're gonna lose?"

Freedom's ears flattened farther back. "There's three of us too!"

"Hardly." Tyrais glared angrily at Freedom, making Cinnamon feel the need to defend the flaky girl. "Don't even joke in comparing us. We've been training to fight our whole lives. And what do you Mews have to show? An inexperienced leader, a sour thug, and now a baby human to boot."

_Eso es on! _Cinnamon walked in front of Freedom, her irritation practically coming out in a snarl. "Well all I see is a líder who can't take down a simple girl, a _love-struck _follower who has hair issues, and some invisible other alien that's proud of taking down, as you say, a bebé human. In fact, I'd say the odds are in _our _favor."

The periwinkle eyes blazed fiercely in the dark, and the frizzing of the hair was now one of the more distinct noises. "You want to pick fights, human? Fine, I made these _especially _for you two."

Out of the darkness came two distinct shadows, one a large, hissing and slithering mass, and the other a swift, whispering one with jagged wings hovering near Tyrais. Cinnamon tried to make out more, but it was too dark.

"TRANSFORM!"

Cinnamon turned just in time to see Freedom engulfed in a bright, intense light. It practically pulsated with untold power. As it receded, Mew Freedom stood at ready, a hiss escaping her as the slithering creature continued forward. "Cinnamon, hurry and change!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Cinnamon whipped out her pendant. "TRANSFORM!" Immediately after the word was spoken, the familiar warm light engulfed her. If she ever had a time to actually describe the feeling, she'd have to say it was like falling, but knowing you wouldn't get hurt. A grin grew on her face as the energy began to flow into her. The warm light left Cinnamon in mew form, her tropical bird's wings raised in a threatening gesture.

Her eyesight had improved with her transformation, and she found that Freedom and her were taking on a giant, black and green snake, and a monstrous gray moth with dusty wings. Cinnamon expertly assessed the situation. "Freedom, you take care of the snake."

A bewailing moan escaped her companion. "No way! I hate snakes! You do it!"

Cinnamon rolled her eyes and cast a look to her. "Can you fly?"

"No."

"Then can you out maneuver something that can fly?"

Freedom whimpered again. "Not likely."

"Then good luck with the snake." Before Freedom could voice the realized protest that the Mexican had never flown in mew form before, Cinnamon was already racing towards Frankenstein's newest pet.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Bonnie wasn't sure what to make of this. All she really could tell was that the giant ants were coming towards her, and she probably couldn't squish them under her foot.

For the first time, Bonnie recognized that just because she had become a super hero, didn't mean it was always going to be fun. She moved back a little as the insects moved in. "Make them go away! I didn't do anything!"

The strange looking boy frowned slightly, still hovering from where he had first appeared. "Maybe not yet, but you will. It's a Mew Mew's job to protect the earth, correct?"

Bonnie was cornered now, though she wasn't panicking yet. "Yep! I'm gonna help make sure that nobody hurts my friends!" She turned away from the ants and looked up at him curiously, "Does that mean that you're the bad guy?"

The blond kid smirked, his red eyes gleaming. "In your case, yes." He pointed dramatically down at her. "Attack!"

Bonnie felt afraid as she watched the ants jump at her. _But wait! _The little mew rummaged in her pocket and brought her pendant out.

'_Freedom bent down and showed her own pendant to Bonnie. "I have one too, whenever you're in trouble, you hold on to it and say 'Transform!', 'kay?"'_

Bonnie's eyes flashed, and turned back to the creatures, holding her pendant high. "TRANSFORM!"

Xakiteu covered his eyes as a blinding light engulfed the smallest mew. The ants scuttled back in terror.

Bonnie wanted to scream with glee as a rather sensational feeling engulfed her. It was like… what? Like when she and Colette spent the entire day together, or when she got sugar from Timmy. Only better! Her nose twitched as new sensations overwhelmed her and the light faded.

In place of her clothes from earlier were replaced by a pink tank and shorts, but made of the same material. Nothing was really very interesting about the clothing except for it's vibrant colors, however, the costume also had strange pink puffy bracelets just below her shoulders, along with one on her right thigh. She also had a puffy necklace, which brightly displayed her pendant. The small boots that came with the outfit came to about her mid-calf, and very much the exact same material, save for decorative ribbons that laced into perfect bows. "I…" Bonnie squealed slightly. "Look AMAZING!"

Her excitement couldn't be contained and came out in the form of a twenty-foot jump, much to the young girls delight. Along with this realization, she found that her ears felt different. They were higher, and felt longer, like the bad guy's. Upon reaching up, she cam in contact with flimsy, furry warm ears. Bringing them closer to her eyesight, she found that they were just as she had imagined. _Am I… Am I…! _She had to make sure. Turning around, now falling back down to earth, she found a white cottontail wiggling in delight. She laughed outright, a long and happy laugh that felt good to get out. "I'm a BUNNY!"

Landing nimbly on the ground, she crouched down as the ants tried once again to make their move towards her. She looked up at the blond alien, his blood-red eyes appearing rather confused. "Alright you meany head! Let's fight!" She sprang into the air towards her adversary.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Freedom watched wide-eyed as Cinnamon jumped at the moth. The giant thing immediately flew up into the air, issuing a very un-insect like shriek at it's opponent. The wings swooshed open and were brought together rapidly as it dived back down. Cinnamon chucked an old can at it as it came down. Both mews watched in utter astonishment as the moth turned so the can hit the edge of its wings, and the can was sliced in half.

_Oh, oh, oh dear Lord in Heaven. Thank goodness she wanted the moth! _"Cinnamon, watch out for the wings!"

"**Obviamente chica! Focus on your own monster!"**

**Freedom looked away. _Well, she didn't have to be so sour about it. Hey, where the heck is the snake?! _A menacing hiss was uttered behind her and Freedom jumped just in time to miss the creature's strike. Miss Dahwe didn't think her heart would start back up before she hit the ground. _It tried to chomp me! Oh my gosh, I almost got eaten by a bloody alien freakazoid! Stupid snake! Stupid, stupid snake! _"Don't you have anything better to do than try to eat me?!" She shouted incoherently. It turned and regarded the now 15 foot difference between them, eyeing Freedom with a rather disgruntled glare.**

**Luckily, Freedom's heart restarted as she started falling, and along with coming back, it switched he intense fear with irritation. _I don't care how scary Ryo is when something happens that he doesn't like, I'm asking for DOUBLE what I'm being paid or I quit! _As she landed the snake took another snap at her. She jumped back and summoned her Star Bell. "That's it! $7.70 an hour is NOT worth this!" It hissed menacingly and launched itself at her, but this time she flew just above it, whirling in the air to deliver a smart kick to its spinal column. "And another thing!" _Great, this is proof that this job has made me snap, I'm talking to a giant girl-eating snake. _"I'm not the one who made you look so horrible, it was that Cyniclon over there! Eat _her_!" The last statement had a slam to its tail for emphasis.**

**Unfortunately, the snake didn't take the motion as a reason to _stop _harassing Freedom, but rather to catch her all the quicker so it could cause _her_ some unpleasantness. It turned and glared menacingly as she stood next to the throbbing tail.**

**Freedom smirked at the hissing string of scales, surprised at how unafraid she was of the creature. _I can't believe I was scared; this thing's a sinch! I'll probably be done before Cinnamon!_ The young leader was already planning her victory remark as the snake gave a painful flick of its tail, bringing Freedom to the ground in seconds as it swept her legs out from under her. She shook her head so her eyes would clear up, and found the snakes head inches from hers. _…I'm so dead! _It curled it's body around one side of Freedom to block and chance of exit she might have had out of the situation, she was trapped. Her heart fainted again as the snake's head drew itself up for the killing blow.**

XXXXXXXXXXXX

**Cinnamon turned from the annoying moth just in time to see the snake rear it's head. _Oh Cristo! _"Freedom!"**

**The moth was circling angrily above her grumbling about its wounded wings, so Cinnamon took her chance and aimed at the snake. "Star Wind TSUNAMI!" She brought the fan down with a massive swipe and watched the energy wind fly down at the snake. It slapped the viper firmly across the cheek, causing it to turn menacingly at the spontaneous attack, but it was enough. Freedom brought up her star and aimed at the snake's head, yelling as the attack left and blasted at the exposed reptile. It screeched angrily and slithered away towards the dark, its face carrying several burn marks.**

**Freedom jumped up and dove for the animal with her own kind of ferocity. Jumping and dodging and hitting it, Cinnamon felt impressed by her comrade.**

**A whispering wind was all the warning she got, and all the warning she needed. Quickly ducking out of the way of the moth's attack, she turned back to it. "Alright you worn out rag, let's finish this!"**

XXXXXXXXXXXX

**Yakuro typed absently on the mainframe computer. After his temper flair with Tyrais, he had relatively calmed down, though he still felt rather sore about it. Part of him was rather appreciative of the idea of playing it over and over in his head, just so he could feel the burning sensation of fury, and then part told him that this was a rather foolish and futile effort, and there was nothing dignified in it whatsoever. He frowned slightly. _Tyrais… _She was a beautiful person; you couldn't just ignore that fact. But Tyrais was a lot of self-righteous energy, and a lot of work because of that. _Bah! These thoughts aren't aiding the plan at all! _**

**His computer began blinking rapidly, and with a pang Yakuro realized there was a communication coming through. _Father. What could he possibly want right now? What am I to tell him? _He reluctantly opened the communication. "This is Yakuro, respond."**

"**Yakuro? Is anyone with you in the room?" Geberot's voice was sharp, if not demanding, as if his son had already made a mistake.**

**Yakuro sighed irritably. "No father, we're alone. What is it?" _What if he asks about how the take-over is going, what will I tell him?_**

"**Don't use a tone with me! Listen boy, we've been found out."**

**Yakuro sucked in his breath, eyes dangerously flashing. "_What_?" _My father was found out? Or does he know that the mews here figured out who I was? How could he?_**

"**It was bound to happen!" Geberot raised his voice angrily. "I was caught in the lab, and Kish's memory came back and remembered seeing you." His sickish eyes narrowed. "If only you had properly done what your told, we wouldn't be in this mess."**

**Yakuro held back some calculated profanities. "Let's not forget who they found, _father_. What are we to do now? Have you tried to sway the counsel?"**

**Geberot stammered for a bit before coming out with something. "Were you born an idiot? I'm on the run! They're putting the blame of two murder attempts on me!"**

**Yakuro bridled at the term 'idiot'. _Good, at least you look as much the part of '_idiot_' as me. _"You needed the exercise anyway. Transmission end." Geberot's blubbering face dissipated into nothing but pixels in a matter of seconds, but Yakuro still felt the hot blood of shame rising in his cheeks, something he rather didn't appreciate. "That dim-witted man! He'll ruin us all with his stupidity!"**

**A hand landed on the Cyniclon's shoulder, making him jump. "Calm down, Yakuro."**

**The yellow-eyed Cyniclon resumed typing on the computer as if nothing were amiss. "How long have you been in here, Lentro?"**

**The taller Cyniclon frowned slightly, "Long enough." Lentro swiveled the chair around so Yakuro faced him. "What do you think your going to accomplish, biting back at your father like that?"**

**Yakuro grunted irritably. "Should I just sit back and let him say what he will? You'd never stand for it if someone treated _you _like that!"**

**Lentro's green hair swayed as he shook his head. "Your too bad-tempered Yakuro. That's going to get you nowhere, except more trouble. Normally, yes, there's no way I would allow someone to treat me like that. But I also know when to keep my mouth closed." His orange eyes squinted shrewdly at Yakuro. "You don't."**

**Yakuro opened his mouth in protest, but clamped it shut quickly, realizing just how real he would make his friend's words be if he had spoken.**

**Lentro smiled faintly. "There, progress already."**

**The black-haired Cyniclon sighed. "I'm not up for this right now Lentro."**

"**But you are the leader, and you'll have to be willing to make the sacrifices for this."**

"**I know, I know! But that doesn't make this easier!" Yakuro turned back to the computer. "Nobody believes I can do it! Geberot, that godforsaken _blood _relative, least of all!"**

**Lentro turned him back. "Hey, Tyrais and Xakiteu wouldn't be here if they didn't believe in you. _I _wouldn't be here if I didn't believe you could. Regardless of what you want to believe or not, remember that the rest of the Cyniclons back home are waiting for us to win back our true home, and you're the only brave one to do it."**

**_I know Lentro's right, he always is. Still… _Yakuro rolled his eyes. "Alright fine, be right! Does this mean I have to… _express regret _to Tyrais?"**

**Lentro's smile grew to a grin. "Absolutely."**

**Yakuro rejected the urge to pout. "Fine, where is she?"**

**The older Cyniclon's smile disappeared. "What do you mean? You sent her of on a mission, right?"**

**Yakuro's eyes widened. "I _what_?"**

XXXXXXXXXXXX

**Freedom was _furious_. She had now been saved by Cinnamon _twice_!! Granted, she was completely and utterly grateful for this, but still! _Never again, I _refuse _to have to be saved! I can do fine on my own!_ She rammed into the snake and sent it flying into the next wall. With a shudder the snake fell to the ground in exhaustion.**

**Freedom walked up to the face and saw the thin trickle of blood coming from its mouth. _Finally. _She thought in relief.**

**But it wasn't over.**

**The snake's blood-shot eyes flew open and assessed its prey right before it. Without waiting it opened its mouth wide and spat the presumed blood at Freedom.**

"**Ahh!" Freedom's hands flew to her eyes where the substance was coating her skin. _This isn't blood, it's ink! And now I can't see the snake! _Her cat ears told her enough to know, though, that it had not been nearly as exhausted as she thought, since it was up and moving around. It's scales whispered across the black top around her, confusing her senses. Freedom wanted to panic, to call out for help, and the scream was just on her lips. _No! Not again, I promised myself not again! I'll find my own way out! _Instead of trying to run or hide somehow while being blind, Freedom forced herself to relax and go still. The whispering skin was everywhere, causing her panic to make a fighting rise up. _Wait! Just listen, just listen! _**

**Her hands gripped tightly to the star-bell. A _hisss _made itself known from behind her left ear. _There! _She spun and face the black abyss "Star, bell, ANNIHILATION!" Despite her handicap, Freedom could suddenly make out the bright, intense light of her weapon, and was startled until she connected the resounding shriek with the snake. As she watched the light got stronger and stronger, until she realized the ink had been dissolved from her eyes by the blast.**

As the light faded, Freedom fell to her knees feeling as if someone had just thrown sandbags on her. Barely comprehending she noticed that Cinnamon flew alone in the sky. _She… must have defeated the moth then? Why didn't she help me out? _Freedom's mind also processed the infuriated Cyniclon that was unnaturally dissolving away. Finally, her brain comprehended the most important thing; that the snake was gone, and in its place was a piece of charcoaled snake spine. _… Ew._

**Ooohhh, the suspense! How will Bonnie prevail against the newest Cyniclon? What was up with Freedom's attack? And what's Lettuce going to do?? Ha! Anyway, enjoy the wait, and I hope it was worth it. REVIEW!!**


	13. To End a Long Day on a Good Note

**Three months… and I've accomplished so little… blame the finals… But I got another chapter up! For those wonderfully kind people who have been reading this since day uno, I thank you SO MUCH from the bottom of my heart for keeping up with my story. I know these kinds are sometimes hard to get into for others since the creations of so many new characters are more fun for the writer than anyone, but you are all wonderful for reading this! I thank you!!!**

**Retasu had had just enough time to slip to the car, pull out of the garage, and then hit the street when she saw the giant beam of light. From where she had been, there had been no sound to it, but she knew instantly what had caused it. _That looks to be Mew Freedom, oh dear, I hope I'm not too late! _The old mew uncharacteristically gunned the red sports car and flew down the streets at a terrifying rate; quickly trying to calculate where the light was before it disappeared.**

**But Lettuce quickly realized that instead of fading, the light was growing more and more bright. Mrs. Shirogane knew this was unusual, and probably a bad sign. _I hope Bonnie's all right; they must have gotten to her by now! Please stay safe mews!_ **

**Just when she didn't think the light could get any brighter (which was to the point where if a civilian looked outside they would question whether their clock was telling the truth and it really was quarter to 9), the beam suddenly collapsed on itself, and in a second the world's lighting system returned to normal.**

**But not quick enough for Retasu to miss the turn she had to make. The tires squealed unsteadily on her husband's car as she ran into the dark area. The car slowed and came to a halt as the headlights picked up two girls in red and orange costumes, the latter laying on the ground unconscious. Lettuce burst from the driver's side and vaulted towards the girls. "Cinnamon! Is Freedom okay?! What happened? Where's Bonnie? Were you attacked?"**

**Cinnamon, who had been kneeling over the fallen comrade, looked up with a shocked look on her face. "The chica's still breathing. We were ambushed by a **ella-fenómeno**, what's with not telling us there was more than one!? While I was fighting, I couldn't watch the flake here, and when I turned, she was about to get comido! But then she attacked it… and the attack hit the Chimera Anima after me too, and the attack… _Cristo_…"**

**Lettuce couldn't believe how astonished the second mew was, after all her stony appearances and cool expertise, she never expected this of Cinnamon. _That can't be a good sign… _"But where's Bonnie?" The blue eyes searched the Mexican's red ones urgently. "Is Bonnie all right?"**

**Cinnamon seemed to finally snap out of it. "_Mierda_! I'd forgotten about her!" She stood up agitatedly. "That little **niña**! She's the cause of all this! That Cyniclon said the baby mew was at the learning center, where the heck is that?"**

**Mrs. Shirogane bit her lip slightly. "That was probably a reference to Bonnie's school. But what school does she attend? There's at least 3 in this area alone!"**

**A faint croak came from below them. "… Timmy's school."**

**Both heads jerked down in shock towards the battered leader. Lettuce leaned in closer. "What is it Freedom? What did you say?"**

**Freedom coughed slightly. "Bonnie goes to my brother's school, I know where it is… oh jeeze!" Freedom thrust herself away from them. "I'm gonna be sick!" Her voice rose to a slight panic right before she puked up on the ugly alley ground. Cinnamon moved in quickly and held Freedom up firmly to keep form getting the vomit on her.**

**When she stopped Retasu and Mew Cinnamon gently hurried Freedom to the back of the car and jumped into the front. "Buckle up." Lettuce turned gravely to Freedom. "Tell me where to go dear."**

XXXXXXXXXXXX

**Xakiteu dodged yet another kick aimed at him by the small mew. She giggled at the expression in his red eyes, "Isn't this awesome?!" The pink ball of energy fell effortlessly to the gym floor and then re-launched herself towards him in the air, once again giving the Chimera Insects no time to get her. A childish punch missed his head, just barely.**

"**Hey!" His curly yellow hair flicked angrily. "That's it baby mew! I've been easy on you up till now!" _But I wasn't supposed to have to do this! She was supposed to simply lose, to die! _He held his hand out into the air, and a large broad sword shimmered into his grasp. He raised it above his head triumphantly, "Do you see this you puny human? This is the Catalyst!" He proudly held it out as she examined it from below him.**

**She cocked her head to the side as she looked at him with her now pink eyes. "What does that mean?"**

**Xakiteu looked down at her suspiciously. "What does what mean?"**

"**Catalyst."**

**He looked down at her in surprise. _Why isn't she frightened? Is this all she can consider? What the _name _of my weapon means?! _With a shock he realized he didn't know what it meant either. "The meaning does not matter! All you need to know that you should _fear _it!" With this said, he dropped rapidly down to the ground towards the pink mew.**

**The ants had tried to sneak up on her, but she kicked them away as he came down, and only missed the edge of the sword by a few inches, some of her left pigtail being cut away in the process. She looked at the massive piece of steel in shock. Xakiteu smirked. _Finally, it's about time this mew learned to dread my power! _The pink eyes regarded him once again, "Wow, that's _sharp_!" The Cyniclon felt his mouth slack. She was surprised, and amazed for sure, but not frightened! **

**The little mew looked him up and down. "You know, you keep calling me 'small' and 'puny' and 'baby', but you're exactly my height!"**

**Xakiteu didn't take that comment too well.**

**The Chimera induced ants watched with growing fascination as their master swung fiercely at their prey, barely missing the mark each time. They also watched with further glee as he drove her closer and closer to their small huddle waiting in the shadow.**

**Bonnie realized a second too late what was happening, and was suddenly fighting for her life to beat the ants back. "You tricked me!" She accused Xakiteu unhappily, throwing one of the ants away from her by its antenna at the same time.**

**Xakiteu didn't exactly hear her; his eyes glowed dangerously with his mouth set in a seemingly permanent snarl. "Don't ever compare yourself to me again!" The flat part of his sword caught Bonnie in the chest and sent her flying into the far wall, the ants scuttled eagerly towards the weakened adversary.**

**As she went down the little mew barely caught herself and regained footing as she landed. She looked up at him, her face set in a stern frown.**

**The youngest Cyniclon finally woke up from his blind rage and looked at her despondently. "Don't say I'm small, or young, or anything like it! I'm just as strong as my friends, and I'm stronger than you!"**

**The frown softened, and Bonnie's tense body lost its anger. "I'm sorry, I hadn't meant to bug you so bad. I was having a lot of fun is all!"**

**Xakiteu would never understand the unusual complexities of human personality.**

**She smiled as brightly as she could to him, a secret lurking in her eyes. "But anyway, you've pushed me around long enough, bad guy. Now," she held her hand out to the side, "it's my turn."**

**The ants shifted nervously as lights began to prickle above the young girl's right arm. As the lights began to take shape, Xakiteu's eyes widened in realization. _The mews can have weapons as well! How had I failed to remember this?! _**

**The lights became too bright to see through, but as they died away they left a new object in their place. It was a rubber-ball, about the size of a volleyball or basketball, shining dark blue with white stars all over it. On the sides were two streams of pink and white ribbons that hung limply.**

**Xakiteu raised his eyes and looked at it for a moment, blinked a few times, then looked at it a moment longer before bursting out laughing. "You dumb bunny! What's _that _going to do?"**

**Bonnie's eyes lit up even more. "Just watch!" She tossed the ball in the air. As it went up, the ribbons began to glow and fall behind the ball. Bonnie reclined into the position someone takes when doing an over-hand serve, watching the ball carefully, words falling out of her mouth without her meaning to let them out. "Star, lightning," she jumped into the air, "SPIKE!" and hit the ball towards the closest ant.**

**As the ball was hit, a large burst of pink energy met between the hand and the ball, shooting it out of her serve like a cannon. The Chimera stood no chance. The monster dissolved till all that was left was a tiny black ant, which promptly began running for its life towards one of the floor-board cracks.**

**Xakiteu couldn't believe his eyes. _If she can do that to my Chimera Insects… I'd better leave and get Tyrais to help me. _As he began to leave, he looked down to his creations. Bonnie was stepping happily towards them, ready to defeat them like she had the last one. Xakiteu could sense their fear, and he hesitated slightly before caving in.**

**Bonnie threw her ball into the air again. "Star, lightning, SPIKE!" The ball once again flew out of her hand and raced towards the petrified ants, but before it could hit them, they dissolved into this air.**

**The pink mew looked about her in amazement. "They can turn _invisible_?!"**

**Xakiteu hung his head. _Out of all the enemies I could be defeated by, it's my luck to get the one that doesn't even understand teleportation. _He looked down at her, his red eyes eerily glaring. "You win this round puny mew, but next time you won't be so lucky, remember that." With that he disappeared to his room where the frantic Chimera Insects were waiting for their master to return.**

**Bonnie gazed in astonishment at where he had just been, then stamped her foot indignantly. "That's not fair! Why can't the good guys go invisible too!!"**

XXXXXXXXXXXX

**The first thing Xakiteu noticed when he got back on the ship was his creations. The moment they saw him, they scuttled as fast as they could to him and began wiggling their antenna's erratically. He sighed and leaned down to them, rubbing their tiny antenna hairs soothingly. "Sorry you guys, I had no idea she'd be that strong. I'll go back for your brother when it's safe. Are you hurt at all? Anything need fixing up?" One wiggled its slightly crooked antenna from where Bonnie had grabbed it. Xakiteu laughed at the ant's pitiful look. "Don't worry," he rubbed their heads, "you'll get her next time." They made strange twittering sounds the told Xakiteu they felt better at his reassurances.**

**The second thing he noticed was an ever-so-audible clearing of the throat from above him. He looked up in alarm, his blond hair and red eyes seemingly growing in color as his skin paled.**

**Yakuro, Lentro, and a very dejected looking Tyrais hovered above him. "It's about time." Yakuro looked down angrily at him. "And how did _your _little fiasco go?"**

**_That's right, we never told Yakuro because we were sure we would win! What should I say?!_ Xakiteu's Chimeras went behind him as they looked up at the more dominant Cyniclon. The little alien almost felt the urge to cry. "I'm sorry Yakuro… I failed to kill off the 3rd mew." He sighed resignedly and hung his head, "Now we have three enemies because I wasn't able to finish her off." He distinctly heard Tyrais groan, and suspected that her endeavor didn't go according to plan either. "We had thought that it would be simple… that you'd be pleased…" Xakiteu lowered his head quickly as his eyes grew hot from shame. _I can't let Yakuro see me cry! He'll regret it even more that he brought me!_**

**The trio of Cyniclons lowered themselves down so that they too were back on the floor next to their youngest comrade. Yakuro shook his head, "Out of all the stupid things you both could have done, you did _this_!"**

**Xakiteu watched from under his blond bangs as Tyrais moved in front of him. "I told you Yakuro, it was my idea. All he did was follow my orders."**

**Xakiteu raised his head and looked coldly as it friends, fighting down his tears. "I don't need protection Tyrais! Yakuro, I'm just as guilty as she is." He bit back a whimper. _I have to be mature, and mature people except responsibility! _**

**Yakuro's yellow eyes glared at them a moment longer before looking away in frustration towards the far wall. "There… is no need for you both to be punished."**

**Xakiteu thought he'd collapse from shock, Tyrais seemed in the same position. Her periwinkle eyes were as wide as he'd ever seen them. "What? Not in trouble?! But- but we went against you! You never-"**

**Yakuro turned to her hotly. "Look! I _know _I'm partly to blame, you all came with me to help take over the earth, right?" His fists clenched and unclenched angrily. "And all I've done was keep you on the ship. And then when I…" he fought with himself for a moment, "… was temporarily delayed in my victory, I went and acted very much the opposite of what a leader should." He looked up into their astonished eyes in turn. "Despite the fact that you both… didn't win, you had an excellent plan, and you executed it strategically and wisely. Lentro and I could not have done better." A faint grin came to his face. "Next time, I'll be wiser and allow you all to help me, _slightly_."**

**Xakiteu's tears were forgotten. _We're not in trouble, he's not mad? _"But aren't you upset with us?" Xakiteu scrutinized his leader carefully, unsure of himself.**

**Yakuro rolled his eyes. "Well, yes, I'm still annoyed by the _audacity _you to had to even try to pull this off. But," he glanced back at Lentro, "I'm your leader, and I need to act like one. And don't think of doing something like this behind my back again, you got me?" Tyrais and Xakiteu nodded eagerly, relieved that their friend wasn't infuriated with them.**

**As the Cyniclon leader turned to go, Lentro delicately cleared his throat. Yakuro froze and turned reluctantly. "Oh, yes." He approached the violet-eyed Cyniclon. "Tyrais, I wanted to… when we talked before… I said some things… I…" He quickly glanced at her incredulous face, "I'm _sorry_ for calling you names."**

**The room was silent as Tyrais took this in.**

**But apparently that didn't suit Yakuro. He frowned towards her, "_Well_?"**

**Tyrais's hair frizzed slightly. "Well _what_?"**

**Yakuro looked ready to have a seizure. "I apologized to you! That's what! It's known to be common politeness to _return _the apology!"**

"**So you only said sorry to hear me say it back to you!" Tyrais leaned forward on her tiptoes to further express hostility. It would have escalated more if Lentro hadn't stepped in. His orange eyes gazed seriously at his companion's. Tyrais sighed loudly. "Okay, okay! I'm sorry too, for saying what I said. It was dumb of me."**

**Yakuro nodded as if he completely agreed with this last statement, then turned towards the door. "Alright, its time we started winning against the earth scum. We can't go back to our home as heroes otherwise. Lentro, do you have any thoughts?"**

**Lentro grinned cynically.**

XXXXXXXXXXXX

**Freedom had recovered enough from feeling sick to being able to actually sit up and look about her as she told directions to Retasu. "One more right up here… there! There, that's the school!" Both she and Cinnamon had since untransformed, too drained to keep it going any longer. As the car slowed, relief filled the vehicle as they took in the small blond figure shimmying down the school's drainpipe. The mew leader, forgetting her earlier sickness, jumped out of the car and raced towards the small girl. "Bonnie! Are you all right?! Thank GOD your alright!"**

**The small girl giggled happily as Freedom's arms encircled her and gave her a huge hug. "Hey! Guess what?" Bonnie giggled in Freedom's ear. "You don't have to worry about me being a cat, I'm a bunny! See?" The girl backed away from her gathered crowd to show them her newly acquired costume and animal attire. Retasu took note of the little purple tattoo right above the girl's cottontail and smiled happily. Bonnie turned back to them with gleaming pink eyes. "Isn't it AMAZING?! I want to see what you guys look like too! Hey, how'd you know I was here? Were you tracking me?! Freedom, you look sick, did you eat too much sugar? I can't, but sometimes I get sick anyways. THE BAD GUY! Did you see him? He turned invisible, and now I can't find him, so I grabbed my homework and was going home-"**

"**Whoa, whoa! Kid, _ser tranquilo_!" Everyone glanced back at Cinnamon, who had her tough face back on. "Your 'bad guy', what'd he look like?"**

"**Well! He had HUGE ears that were THIS long! And they twitched a LOT! And he had funny clothes, and he could FLY and go IVISIBLE-"**

"**Yeah yeah yeah, but what did his hair look like? Or his eyes?"**

"**OH! His hair was much blonder than mine, and it was all curly, but his eyes, were RED! Can you believe it? He looked so _scary_! But then he wasn't that scary, and he frowned a lot, and he was my age! Can the bad guys-"**

"**Cyniclon." Cinnamon muttered under her breath.**

"**-look that way?" Bonnie looked up into the faces of the older people curiously. "Why are you all frowning now? Was it something I said?"**

**Cinnamon turned to regard Freedom. "'Ey chica, what did your psychopath-jerk look like again?"**

**Freedom frowned. "Yakuro had black hair and yellow eyes, and he looked _our _age." _So now there are _three_ Cyniclons, and _three_ mews. Great, I bet my grades will end up suffering for this._**

**Retasu knelt next to the little girl, who still stood bemused by everyone's unhappy expressions. "Bonnie, sweetie, you didn't get hurt at all?"**

"**Nope! Even with his big sword and all the big ants, I didn't get hurt!"**

"**I'm glad." Behind the green mew, Freedom and Cinnamon tried to hide their shocked faces. "Should I take you home? Do you know how to get home from here?"**

"**Absolutely! But don't worry Mrs. Shiro-lady! I can walk home! Oh!" Her eyes grew big while at the same time her transformation blew off with a burst of light. "I was s'possed to call Colette when I got home! I'd better hurry back!" The now normal ball of energy gave a brief hug to each mew (Cinnamon looked like she was being cuddled by slugs) and then ran off.**

"**So," Retasu turned away from the retreating figure back to her other mews, "Your late for being home as it is, may I give you both a ride home? It's all I can really do right now in thanks for your quick thinking tonight."**

**Cinnamon shrugged indifferently. "Yeah, your husband really _will _owe us. 'Ey, can I quote you on that? For next time when I come in for work, I mean?"**

**Freedom shoved her Mexican companion good-naturedly. "No thanks needed, Mrs. Shirogane. But, can you give me a ride home? My mom's gonna kill me as it is."**

**Mew Lettuce moved to the side as the two American Mews made there way back to her husband's car, bantering with each other. Her green hair flew in front of her face and hid her look of nostalgia from them. _I wish I could go back to those times, I miss my friends. _**

"**Retasu? Are you okay?"**

**Mrs. Shirogane looked to see Freedom Dahwe waiting for her at the car door, concern slipping into her features. _She's so much like our Ichigo, and yet so… so different…_ "I'm fine!" Retasu smiled and walked over to the driver's seat. "Now, which way to your house?"**

XXXXXXXXXXXX

**Freedom could not believe her luck for the night. When she had come home, her family was cleaning up the kitchen table, much to her newfound craving's disappointment (her head had been imagining biting into raw meat the whole way home, she had almost puked a second time). Luckily, her mom had saved some meager morsels for her dinner in the microwave.**

**It seemed that Ricky had gone home some time ago after Mrs. Dahwe had found both boys coating the underside of Timmy's bed with their dirt covered bodies. Timothy had been forced into a horrible scrubbing frenzy that had left him pink and sulky for the rest of the night.**

**Scott, much to Freedom's dismay, still seemed skeptical of how Freedom had been acting recently.**

**But, upon hearing Freedom's stumbling story about a freak accident with the dishwasher (floods galore), and some reassuring impute from Mrs. Shirogane herself, Mrs. Dahwe had simply nodded, smiled and told Freedom to hurry up and eat so she could go to bed.**

**Now, lying in her bed, Freedom felt pretty good. _Sure this whole normal-to-superhero-mew thing was obnoxiously weird, but hey! Who else has the chance to do this kind of thing after school?_**

**Uncharacteristically, Esmond came into her mind. She hadn't seen him since she had first become a mew, and she was rather afraid to see him, silly as it was. _What will he say about the Chimera Anima? Did he see me turn into a mew? Would he think hate me and think I'm a freak? Or worse, a coward for accidentally leaving him behind?!_ **

**Besides all this, she missed him, they had been really close as kids, and she never got to see him much anymore, and with the way Sarah was now with her getting a _job _without _her _permission (to say it bluntly, Freedom was irritated with Sarah's attitude), she could really use a friend right then and there. _But then again, I do have people there for me right now, don't I?_ The two other mews popped into her head. Cinnamon, with her cocky and street-smart attitude, and the newest member, little Bonnie, cute and rambunctious (_and Timmy's crush! HA!_). _Who are the last two mews though? And when will they show up? _Freedom rolled to her side, unsure of what was to come, but confident she could handle it.**

**With a smile she drifted off to sleep, unaware of the figure floating in the shadows, watching her.**

**And so, we now have three mews! For the record, despite the fact that Bonnie's pink, she in no way represents Ichigo. I just thought she looked really cute in pink. :3 The plot thickens! Who will the newest mews be, and will Freedom be able to patch things up with her normal-life friends? Reviews for the poor? Okay, I'm not poor, but will you kindly review? If only to stop my incessant rambling?? REVIEW!**


	14. Unseen Occurances pt 1

**APOLOGY RANT, READ THIS BOLD PARAGRAPH AT YOUR OWN RISK: Hey! :shrinks slightly: Okay, I need to apologize to all of you, because the amount of time I've been forcing you guys to wait is atrocious, and I should know, because I have found really, REALLY awesome stories on this website that I just couldn't get enough of, and then… the person never finished them. People can do that, if they want to. But I DON'T. You people have been absolutely amazing for being so kind as to read my stuff, and something that makes me even more impossibly happy, you guys LIKE to read it. I WILL NOT EVER not finish this, unless I die, in which case I hope you guys will forgive me, please. BUT I WILL NOT STOP THIS UNTIL IT'S FINISHED. Enough! Real quick read the last bold and then enjoy the LONGEST CHAPTER I HAVE YET WRITTEN FOR THIS STORY!**

**SPECIAL THANKS: Faunamon should be publicly thanked here. She was kind enough to remind me that you guys are still out there, and your not on pause just waiting for me to press the play button. Faunamon, thanks for being such an awesome reviewer and helper for me! :D I really hope you enjoy what I have instore.**

**K, this is a basic sum of before because it's been so long… Bonnie fought Xakiteu and became the newest mew, and everybody was happy about it except the main antagonists. Speaking of whom, Yakuro and the others are now hatching a new plan, that I am trying my hardest to work on perfecting. The chapter ended with a creeper looking through Freedom's window as she slept. Also, remember Esmond? Guy from when our main heroine first became a mew? Yeah, don't forget him, he's showing up again. ENJOY!**

Freedom raced past the last few kids in the hallway as fast as she could. Her class now started in less than a minute, and she was still only about half-way across the building. _Oh man oh man, why the heck didn't I wake up when my alarm first went off, why?! _"C'mon, c'mon!" Her cougar genes had kicked in, and she was currently running at a full sprint passed everyone, causing quite a few heads to turn.

She quickly ducked under a stack of papers a teacher was carrying. "No running in the halls kid!"

"Look out! _Move _please!" _Dodging people should be a sport- AH! _"Watch it!" Freedom veered dangerously to the right of a girl with red and blond highlights. Though it saved them both from severe impact, the books the girl was carrying were hit out of her hands by Freedom's elbow. "I'm very sorry!" She called back.

Freedom glanced up at the clock. _10 seconds?! Does the world _love_ making me late? _Turning a corner at a speed that probably took off some of the soles of her shoes she spotted her classroom and vaulted for it. The seconds counted off in her head.

* * *

Freedom screeched into the classroom and collapsed on top of her desk as the bell rang out.

"NOT LATE!" She yelled at the obnoxious timer, her breath wheezing from her throat in agony.

A rude clearing of someone's throat told Freedom that her escapade didn't go unnoticed. She quickly moved into her seat and set her backpack on the floor. "Sorry, Mr. Crank." _Excuse time, hurry! _"My locker was jammed for some reason." Freedom shrugged innocently between gasps. The rest of the class waited in silent approval for Crank's comeback.

He did not disappoint. "No lava rivers in the street? No hurricanes hitting your house to make you late?" Crank's squinting eyes bore into hers accusingly.

_THERE WAS TOTALLY AN EARTHQUAKE! Jerk! _Freedom smoothed over her irritation with a smile. "Nope, just my locker. Although I _did_ have to outrun a twister on the way here." The class laughed quietly while Mr. Crank 'humph!'ed and turned back to the dry erase board. "Today's discussion will be involving the golden age in Greece…"

Freedom smiled. _Score 1 for the mew._

X X X X X X X X X X X X

Pai and Kisshu ran into the communications room, which currently swarmed with other Cyniclons who were vainly trying to find a way to help. Moments ago Kish had come in just as Pai had been checking on Taruto's condition and brought yet another crisis to the weary Cyniclon's attention.

Pai turned his glare towards the green-haired comrade. "Tell me how this happened again?"

Kish narrowed his eyes slightly. "What's with the look? I was minding my own business when one of the techi monitors came out of nowhere and begged for my help. When I came in to try and see what the problem was…" his eyes widened briefly, "wait a second! You think _I _did this? Seriously?! Of all the-"

"Pai-san," One of the Cyniclon security ran over, "he's telling the truth, we simply noticed a change in the program and tried to find one of you as soon as possible, thankfully you and Kish had already recovered." He began to lead them over to the main computer. "But there's something you should know sir. From what we can tell, the problem is actually coming from the other side," he glanced meaningfully at the two, "that is, from earth."

Pai felt the color (what little there was) drain from his face. _Has the mew base been attacked? Were they defeated? How long ago? What if the world's already been ransacked? What if Lettuce- _"What can we really do then? Why are we here?"

"I-I don't know, Pai-san." The security personal nervously avoided Pai's intense glare. "Our first priority was to notify you. We haven't been able to find any solution, but perhaps y-you…" he quickly faltered to a stop.

Kish laid a hand on his friend's shoulder, bringing to Pai's attention how quiet the room had gotten. His angry glare subsided in realization. _They're all depending on _me_. They are hoping I have the solution, that _I _know what to do. _

Pai looked around at the expectant faces. "We can't do anything." He forced himself to stay composed, to not allow the weariness he felt be seen. "We can only wait… and pray."

X X X X X X X X X X X X

Ryo sighed in irritation. It had taken all night, but he had finally taken care of most of the mess the Cyniclons had created. The only serious drawback was that the communications link was jumbled so that there was an excessive amount of trouble in contacting the Cyniclon home world. But other than this, the world map was functioning correctly and could now warn them of alien or mew activity, and all saved files were found and restored, save for some entries and notes involving the previous invasion, but Akasaka had those back in Japan, and promised to send a CD as soon as possible.

For most people, this would be enough to draw off any irritation; in fact, it was nothing short of a miracle that the Cyniclons didn't kill the major hardware beyond repair. _They must have been trying to keep it quiet. _Ryo thought bitterly. Some of the things that didn't escape the attack were keynotes and graphs of the teleporter the Cyniclons would need to reach earth and take out their own. The other was bits of genetic data about the mews. Whether these papers and files were trashed or taken, he didn't know.

And he _hated _not knowing.

Another thing that bugged him was the news of Mew Freedom's powers. When Retasu had gotten home the night before, after telling him all the girl's were safe (and that Bonnie was now a full-fledged mew), she related Cinnamon's story about Freedom's attack that actually not only defeated the Chimera parasite, but the animal host as well. _And with my notes missing, I'm not sure whether to think her powers are unstable or unnaturally strong. _Ryo hissed angrily to himself. He was responsible for them! If he didn't know _exactly _what was going on, _especially _with their genetic make-up, how could he protect them?

And the fact that Yakuro wasn't working alone as they had first thought didn't make matters any better. If there was one, and now three, how many more would pop out of nowhere?

Was it possible to die of frustration?

One thing of interest that had occurred beside all this was at about 4am that morning, one of the mews yet to be found had given off a faint signal.

He glanced at the clock, finding it to now be 12:39. _Freedom and Bonnie get out at 3:00, and Cinnamon's school gets out at 2:40. _He went over to his phone and texted to Cinnamon, hoping she wouldn't get in trouble because of him.

_Cinnamon, get other mews and meet at café after school asap._

With any luck, the girl would actually _listen _to him.

X X X X X X X X X X X X

Yakuro relaxed among the hum of technology around him. Currently, Lentro was in the process of putting a plan into action to stop the new mews, and Yakuro felt it had a pretty good chance of working. _Then what is it that keeps me coming back to the drawing board? What is it I'm missing? _Yakuro was looking over the recently acquired data from the mew base that Tyrais had brought back. She had snatched some of the schematics for the ship meant to bring the previous Cyniclons back; the _failures _back to defend earth. Ryo Shirogane would be put far behind schedule without them, and this pleased Yakuro to no end. Tyrais had also had the luck to obtain data sheets of the mews, or the found mews, apparently there were two more to find, but Lentro was in the process of taking care of that.

_Mew Freedom… _Yakuro had found that the lead mews genetic components varied slightly from the rest, though he didn't understand if that should cause him any concern. _There is something though… I _will _find out what it is. _He glanced over at a time indicator. _Or, to save the energy, I can just let her be taken care of. _He grinned maliciously. _That sounds better. I'd like to see my father try to pull _this _off._

His laugh echoed eerily among the corridors to the alien craft.

X X X X X X X X X X X X

Tawny sighed distractedly. The day wasn't going to be one of her best days, she could tell. She hadn't slept well, and her parent's were on vacation, so she had made herself cold cereal in contrast to the hot breakfast her parents usually prepared for to say, it greatly affected her creativity levels for art class, so much so that the teacher had noticed. In fact, most of her teachers had noticed; Trigonometry class, Advanced Greek lit. class, and Advanced History on World Government class, every teacher had commented on her distracted and unusual temper. _Maybe Nila will have an idea on what to do. _She mused to herself.

Tawny felt someone poke her arm. "Um, excuse me?"

She closed her locker and turned in surprise. No one ever came to bug her, unless it was one of Nila's friends. To her shock, she found it was the girl who had bumped into her that morning! She was most likely two grades lower than her, judging from her height. _What would she want?_

The girl looked up then let her gaze wander awkwardly away. "Sorry for bugg'in you, but I just wanted to apologize for this morning and all that." She laughed with embarrassment. "You took me by surprise when you came out of the classroom like that. You're not hurt from that are you? Were your books okay?"

Tawny brushed the red highlights out of her eyes. _She came back to apologize? How weird._ She said nothing and continued to ponder absently about the strange girl.

Apparently, Tawny's silence was unsettling her even more. "So… yeah… I guess your okay then?"

The brunette sighed inwardly. _Everyone seems to need a verbal affirmation nowadays. _Instead of talking, she smiled slightly and shrugged her shoulders, bringing her hands together in front of her. _Yes, I'm fine. I know it was an accident, so don't worry. _

The girl smiled back at her. "I'll take that as a yes. Great! So I'll see you…" The girl's smile disappeared into a look of shock as she stared down at Tawny's hand.

She looked down to discover she had her right hand on top of her left, letting the strange mark she had recently acquired be seen by all. _Oh no! She saw it! _Tawy shifted her hands quickly, but not quick enough.

"That… that… where did you get that mark?" The lower classman looked up at her intently. "How long have you had that?"

_What is with this day? _Tawny turned to get the last few things out of her locker. _I need to find Nila… _The lower classmates next words sent shivers down her spine.

"It just appeared out of nowhere, right? You don't really know where it came from?"

Tawny turned and looked at her sharply. _How… how would she know that? How _could _she know that? This must be some messed up trick. _Tawny quickly shut her locker and started walking away.

"Hey! Wait, I need to talk to you, that mark-"

Tawny glanced back to see why the girl had stopped talking and found Nila's crew surrounding her. _Thank goodness, _she thought with relief, _I need to find Nila, I need to talk to her…_

She quickly turned around a corner and was gone.

X X X X X X X X X X X X

_Well, this is weird. _Freedom glanced around at the girl's who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and surrounded her. She moved to get past and follow the girl with red highlights, but they immediately blocked her way.

"Do you _know _who that is?" Freedom recognized the girl who spoke; they shared Biology and History together. She was some big popular chick, what was her name? Burda, Brandy…?

"Brittany, I don't think that she knows what _anything _is." _Ah! That's right, Brittany! _Freedom glanced at the Asian girl who had just spoken up.

"What exactly am I supposed to know?" _Buncha jerks… _Freedom narrowed her eyes at them.

The third girl, a formidable redhead who Freedom knew to be the leader of the performance team at their school, gave her a rather nasty look. "Girl's like _you _don't talk with girl's like Tawny. That's all you _need _to know."

"I was apologizing to her!" _Since when was it made a rule that you could only talk to certain people? This is a load of crap! _"I still need to ask her something, so if you could just _move_…" Freedom tried to push past Brittany and the redhead, but was quickly shoved back to her original position.

"Are you _deaf_?" The Asian girl sneered.

"Of course she is, along with color blind, wearing those clothes together." Brittany smirked.

The redhead let out a biting laugh. "Deaf, color blind, maybe she's just altogether _dumb_."

Freedom's tongue moved before she could comprehend what came out. All she was sure of was that she used words she had been grounded for using in the past, and that Cinnamon had muttered a good deal of them under her breath more than once. It was only momentary satisfaction to see the wannabe's shocked faces, but after the shock changed to faces that made the blood curdle, Freedom wasn't so sure that her mom didn't have a good idea about keeping her trap shut when she got angry.

Freedom decided the best course of action was to leave the scene altogether, but the redhead and Asian quickly intercepted her, holding her in front of Brittany's flushing face. _Oh boy… _Brittany was the first to go for her, her manicured nails going in for the kill. "You _bi_***!"

Freedom quickly shut her eyes in anticipation of the nails raking across her face. _Wait until I have to explain _this _one to mom._

"Beat it, Brittany."

Freedom opened her eyes in surprise not only to the halt in attack, but at the voice. She turned her head and found Sarah glaring fiercely at the attacking trio, Jon looking on disapprovingly at her side. "Same to you Becca, hands off my friend."

"Get lost _Sass_," Brittany's arm remained immobile in the air, unsure of whether to continue its hideous assault. "I'm not about to let this brat get away with what she just did."

Sarah stepped over ominously, gripping Becca's arm hard till she let go of Freedom with a gasp. "Of course you will, otherwise I tell _we_-know-who about _you_-know-what." She leaned past Freedom towards Brittany. "Don't believe me drama queen? You have three seconds to back off, or I can guarantee Zack dumping you before tomorrow's first period."

Brittany paled slightly, her hand quivering. "You (please excuse Brittany's language here)! You swore you'd never tell!"

Sarah smiled sweetly. "Three… Two…"

Brittany clenched her teeth and turned away, the other girl's falling behind her. "You'd better watch it Sass! Don't think I won't tell Nila what you did!"

"Ooo, _so _scared!" Sarah smirked after them with self-satisfaction.

Freedom glanced at her dubiously. "Don't you hate me right now or something?"

Sarah gave her a half-hearted glare. "Yeah, I do. And I will continue to dislike your sorry butt until you get rid of that job at 'my little pony'." Jon nudged her arm, which she smacked away in retaliation.

"Sarah," he murmured meaningfully. "You can say it your way, or _I _can say it my way." Sarah huffed crossly. "You have three seconds," he added playfully.

Sarah rolled her eyes heavenward. "Look Freedom, I _cannot _think of anything, including drugs, that could have _possessed _you to get a job where you did. But," she quickly glared at an offending trashcan, "I'm not about to let other people just step all over you just because you don't know how to pick fights well."

_Wow, that's rather heartfelt coming from Sarah, and probably the closest thing I'll ever get to an apology. _Freedom had it in her to look sheepish. "I wasn't picking a fight, _they _were. Did you hear what they said?"

Sarah laughed. "Not really, but I _did _hear what you said. I wonder what your mom will think of that pretty paragraph you just spat on them?"

"Don't even kid, you know my mom would roast me alive." Freedom looked down at her feet.

Sarah patted her on the back good-naturedly. "I'd've said the same thing."

Freedom groaned. "That's reassuring."

"Alright, let's go." Jon quickly steered them down a hallway. "There's no way _my _7th hour teacher is going to buy me being in the bathroom _this _long."

**Hey, guess what? It turns out my longest chapter is TOO long, so I'm cutting it in half (it's for the best, this was 15 pages on Microsoft with Batang size 12 font). So if this doesn't seem like a satisfactory end, it's because it's the half-way point. Anyways, looks like things may be looking up for Freedom, since Sarah's back to talking with her. Not so much for Ryo (I know it's Ryou, I'm sorry that I'm not changing it!! :'( ), or the mystery girl Tawny for that matter, poor thing. And will Kish and the other bad boys ever get a brake? What the heck is Yakuro's group planning?!**

**Quick Note: OMG I just figured out how to edit it when it's already on Fanfiction. I'm going to go fix chapter 13 from being all bold!! :dances with happiness: And for those of you who have just recieved a hideous amount of alert messages telling this chapter has been uploaded, I am so, so sorry. But hopefully, it will NEVER happen again.**

**I don't deserve it right now, but if you feel willing… Review!**


	15. Unseen Occurances pt 2

**I just want you guys to know that I read back on the reviews you've all posted. You should know… you guys are awesome. I hope your reviews are as fun to read as mine, I think you guys deserve it.**

**Oh, it's been brought to my attention also that I constantly switch from different names (ex: Retasu-Lettuce, Kish-Kisshu, Taruto-Tart) and this might disgruntle some of you. To this I much apologize for the wincing pain it might bring you when you have to watch it occur, but I have a bit of a fetish where I don't like using the same descriptive for the noun, so when they have nick names like that, I like to mix 'em in. I hope it doesn't ruin the story for you **

**Part 2! Read and enjoy!!**

Freedom left the school grounds with a sigh of relief. It seemed that Sarah would give her a trial basis for being friends again, regardless of her job at 'my little pony's' (to quote from Sass). And despite the attack of the wanna-be's, it seemed they had decided not to tattle; yet another reason she owed Sass. As proof of regaining the blonde's favor, Sarah and Jon were meeting her later downtown by the live-feed television screens, once they grouped up, they'd head to the mall, where Freedom would probably end up buying Sass a latte. Freedom shrugged to herself. _Oh well, I'm just glad she's not furious with me anymore. _

"Freedom, hey!"

The black-haired girl turned to find Esmond trotting away from his circle of friends towards her. She smiled and waved a 'hi', turning to meet him. All at once she remembered that the last time she had seen him, he had been knocked unconscious by the first Chimera Anima. _Oh crap! What do I do? What do I _say_? I just left him there after all that, what must he think of me! What can I say to him? 'Hey, sorry I left you and all, but I ended up turning into a super-powered-animal-girl and had to defeat the mutated purple monster that attacked us, so I was a little out of it, hope you weren't hurt'? _He was too close now for her to just abruptly make a run for it. _Oh man… _"H-hey Esmond, um, about that time in the park…"

He waved his hand. "It's alright, don't worry. The couple that helped us told me what happened." Esmond searched her with his green eyes, a slight frown etching into his features. "But you _were _really okay, right? I mean, that mugger hit me hard enough to get knocked out, he didn't hurt you too, right?"

'_The couple'? Does he mean Mr. and Mrs. Shirogane? A _mugger_?! So he doesn't know! Thank God! _"Oh, yeah, I mean, the guy freaked me half to death, but I was fine."

Esmond laughed. "I know what you mean, I had actually thought the guy was a _real _monster when he attacked us."

Freedom tried not to let the nervous feeling enter her laugh. "Yeah… but listen, I never, _never _meant to just ditch you like that, I mean, I was so shocked, and scared…" _And shocked, in fact, mostly shocked. _She hung her head so he couldn't see her face. "So, I just want to say, I'm sorry." The fact that she was still lying to him, being unable to really tell him what happened, for some reason made her feel even more worse.

"Want to make it up to me?"

The girl looked up at him in surprise, "Huh?"

He had said it with humor in his voice, but he actually looked quite awkward right then, like he didn't know what to do. "Well, yeah, it's just that last time before the 'monster'" he laughed uncomfortably despite himself, "before that happened, I had been wanting to see if you would like to hang out sometime." Suddenly, unlike his usual self, his sentences began to come out faster and more breathlessly. "Just since, you know, we haven't been able to see each other in awhile. You don't have to! I mean, it was just a thought." He ran his hand through his hair in agitation. "But, do you think we could, you know, just to catch up on life? Like a movie, or maybe going to the mall or something?"

_Is he okay? _Freedom found herself thinking. _He must still feel hurt that I left him like that! Man, I'm such an idiot, why had I done that?! _An idea popped into her head. "How 'bout tonight? Are you open?"

Esomond seemed surprised. "Um, yeah! I'm open for tonight."

Freedom smiled. "Cool! Is going to the mall fine?"

The brown-haired boy smiled back, looking slightly sheepish for some reason that was beyond Freedom. "Absolutely, when should I pick you up?"

She laughed. "You don't have to pick me up! I'm meeting Sarah and Jon at the live-feed screens there at about 6:45ish, you know, by the Game Stop? You can meet us there and we can all head out to the mall."

Freedom was oblivious to Esmond's sudden down-swing in mood. "Oh, Sarah and Jon? Ah, sure, why not?"

"Great! I just have to call them about it, but it should be fine with them." Freedom felt great, she hadn't seen Esmond in so long, it'd be good to hang with him again. And hopefully now she could make up for her total failure the last time they saw each other. _I can't wait for tonight! _"I'll see you later then?"

Esmond smiled. "Yeah, see you later."

"Freedom!"

The girl turned to see Cinnamon waving her over on the far side of the street. _Why the heck is Cinnamon here? _She headed off towards the taller Mexican, glancing back one last time to call 'Later!' before hurrying across the road to the fellow mew. She never did notice that he didn't stop watching her until she was out of sight.

Xx

Cinnamon looked rather impatient as Freedom finally reached her. "It's about time chica!" The Mexican beauty had decided to wear a low-rise tank with jean shorts to match, the kind that Freedom's mother would kill her for wearing and Sass would approve of. Her mew mark glimmered as the occasional flood of light hit it just right. "You really took your time getting out of there."

"I was catching up with someone."

"Who, that niño?"

Freedom glanced up at her. "What now?"

She rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Ella es desesperada. The brown haired boy chica. Just a second ago?"

_How long had she been watching me? _"Oh, his name's Esmond."

Cinnamon looked Freedom over carefully. "How well do you know him?"

She shrugged absently. "We've been friends since we were kids. He skipped a grade, so I don't see him all that often anymore."

"What had you been talking about?"

Freedom cocked a suspicious brow towards her fellow mew. "What exactly does it matter? We're good friends; we can talk about whatever we want."

Cinnamon watched her for a few more moments before looking away, a small smile pulling at her lips.

Freedom was oblivious, again. "So why're you here?"

The fellow mew snorted in a very unladylike manner. "It's not like I had too much of a choice in this, our _jefe_wanted me to get you and the half-pint ASAP, I'd probably get docked pay if I didn't."

_Wow, glad to see you too. No, really, it was so thoughtful of you. _Freedom frowned slightly. "But Bonnie's school is probably the closer one, why didn't you get her first?"

Cinnamon shuttered as if she was just forced to eat a moldy shoe.

_Seriously? _"You _still _don't like her? Cinnamon, she's an elementary student, _and _a mew! How can she possibly do _anything_ to you?"

"All niñas at her age are diablos on the inside."

_Right, the sugar deprived bouncing bundle of joy is evil incarnate, real convincing. _"I think you should give her more of a chance, you know?"

"No."

Freedom, not ready to ruin her day just yet, dropped it and focused on getting to the school.

X X X X X X X X X X X X

Tawny quickly entered the apartment complex and moved towards the front desk. Jim, as the elderly man was known by, glanced up at her approach. "Ah, Miss Bemrose, Nila is up stairs waiting for you, I'll tap you up immediately." Jim rose and walked the marble floor with Tawny in tow to the obsidian elevator. True to his doorman like nature, Jim remained silent the entire ride up to the 67th floor, then as Tawny exited, bowed slightly and rode down with a 'good day to you, be sure to ring if there is anything you and Miss Tericas need'.

"Tawny, I'm in my room!" came a call from further into the extremely lavish apartment. The quiet girl brusquely passed by the expensive antiques and high tech kitchen without batting an eye. When Nila had first gotten the apartment so she could stay close to the school, it had taken Tawny a lot of time to get used to the luxurious features that came with it, courtesy of Nila's parents.

She entered the giant bedroom to find Nila in the corner reading a book on her favorite chair. The blond hated reading, but her parents were pushing her to read some of the more _exclusive _classics that their friend's children were 'interested' in.

Nila's eyes widened as they took in her friend's state. "Tawny, are you okay?" Without further thought she chucked the book and hurried over to her, the long curls falling behind her shoulders. "You don't look all that well, should tell Jim to call Vivani?" Vivani was Nila's personal masseuse, something else that took Tawny a while to get used to.

Tawny shook her head. She didn't want Vivani, she wanted Nila.

The blond girl grabbed for her friends hand. "Come on, we can sit on the bed." Once they were situated Nila gave her her full attention. "Talk."

Tawny heaved a big sigh. "Do you remember when that… I mean… when everything had started to shake?"

Nila sat up a little straighter, more tense. "Yes, you called me after it had happened, and you had been getting dressed, same as me. Nobody seemed to think anything of it though." An edge came slightly into her voice as she said it, she wasn't used to not being taken seriously, or not believed for that matter.

Tawny nodded her head. "Do you remember that weird thing that had happened too?"

Nila looked at her seriously. "The strange dreams?"

"Yes. Ever since this," she displayed the backside of her right hand unhappily, "suddenly showed up, things have been… I think something's wrong with me."

"In that case," Nila help up her left hand to display her own mark, "We're in the same boat. I would like to speak for the both of us and say _nothing _is wrong with either of us Tawny."

Tawny's eyes grew slightly wide. "I… I saw something strange, somebody had been outside my window, but…" she looked at Nila in horror, "they were _floating_."

Nila furrowed her brow slightly, though it didn't take away from her delicate features in the least. "What if you were still sleeping?"

She nodded in consent. "That's what I had thought, and I still want to think so. But then some girl at school… she seems to know what this mark is, and I've been feeling like I'm being followed."

Nila looked at her in surprise, her blue eyes startling. "You've never spoken of something like this before."

"It's never happened before." Tawny tried to shrug indifferently. "I mean, for all I know I'm just being too paranoid."

"Don't give me that." Nila turned away. "We promised no matter what to be real with each other, we don't have to show off to each other, or put up airs, we can just be ourselves."

"Then… I just want to know if you've at all felt that way."

"… No. Not yet, anyway."

Tawny picked up her cell and glanced at the time. "Well," she stood up, "I need to head home for now, I promised mom to take care of some cleaning while her and dad are away."

Nila sniffed. "Please, I could just send one of my people over to take care of it."

Tawny smiled at her best friend. "Nah, mom would know if it wasn't mean, not many people can make so many dust piles appear under the rug like I can." Nila followed her into the elevator and parted at the main entrance. "I promise I'll be back later tonight. I have to be, you're the best person to come to with trig problems." They quickly hugged and said good-bye, Tawny catching a bus, and Nila heading back to her apartment.

The hovering shadow hesitated briefly before silently following the bus.

X X X X X X X X X X X X

It appeared the bell had wrung a few minutes ago for the elementary school, with small boys and girls streaming from the school towards the waiting buses or playground, a few meeting up with their parents.

Freedom scanned the mass of bright colors and high voices, trying to make out the youngest member of their unofficial 'fighters for justice' group, silently praying she didn't already head home. _You know, Ryo may have gone about this the wrong way, I mean, maybe we should look more like Marvel comics than fluffy cute girls. Ugh, am I really thinking about this? _A pig-tailed blonde head bounced into her view, staying in close approximation with a braided brunette about her age. _There you are! _"Hey Cinnamon, she's over there."

The Mexican glanced and quickly found the jumping child. "Good, now go get her."

Freedom turned and looked at her. "Hey! What about what Ryo told you?"

The girl's eyes flashed dangerously. "What _about _what he told me, _chica_?"

_Right. Me dumb, you smart. Jeeze! _Freedom turned to go catch the small sprite, rolling her eyes when she was sure the beautiful Mexican couldn't see.

It must have been fate that a giant sand ball was flung at her from out of nowhere.

The grit had hit square in the middle of her chest, exploding in such a way that particles ended up falling down her collar and in her shoes, even going as far as to hit the lower part of her face. Looking down in astonishment sunk the sand further into her shirt (a rather uncomfortable feeling), and a panicky brush aided the sand in falling into her pockets. _Who… who…_

But she really should have known even before she looked. A mechanical turn brought her gaze to lock full on her little brother, Timmy.

The boy, for his part, looked like he was quickly regretting his rash decision. A rather primitive anger hung over Freedom just then, and she took a menacing step forward.

Timmy glanced around anxiously. "Hey, c'mon Freedom! I thought you'd dodge it!"

Another step forward. For his part, Timothy Dawhe took two steps back.

"What're you going to do? Tackle me in front of all my friends." She surged closer and he quickly mended his statement. "And all these parents and teachers?"

Freedom didn't seem to register this thought, but didn't come for the kill either. Timmy's courage tried to make a recovery, provoking a sideways grin. "And you have to admit, that was hilarious, sand suits you better than ketchup stains anyway."

That did him in.

In the blink of an eye the girl had charged him, tackled him to the ground, and began an all out wrestle in front of elementary students. Timothy, in any other case, would have begun at once to drop down pitiful tears and make wimpy calls to tug the heart strings. But with his friends and all the other boys around, he knew he'd have a worse time if he broke down and complained. This resolution in his mind, he reached out with one small fist and began to yank shamelessly at his sister's hair, while she in turn tried to get him in a headlock so she could give him a hard head rubbing. The fight had escalated to where she had just been about to give him a piece of her mind when they were interrupted.

"Freedom?!"

The girl glanced up from her dirt scuffle to see that Bonnie and Collette had come to see the commotion, as had most of the other students.

The blond became ecstatic immediately. "It _is_ you! How are you! How come you're here? Why are you pounding Timmy?"

Freedom, a new plan for revenge forming in her mind, smiled sweetly. "Hey Bonnie, sorry, I had been coming to see you, but met up with my little brother here."

She got results when Timmy went temporarily limp with shock. "Wait, you know Bonnie?"

"He's your brother!?" Bonnie looked back and forth between the two, trying to see their similarities. "Wow, that's so cool! Because I've known Timmy for a long time, and I knew he had an older sister, but I didn't know it was you!"

"You know Bonnie?" he repeated.

Freedom let him go and rose quickly, absently brushing off some of the dirt on her pants. "Yeah, isn't that weird that you knew little Timmy here?" She turned and gave him a sly look that younger siblings dreaded to see from their older family members. "But anyway," she turned back to the little girl, "Ryo wanted to see us after school, do you think you can come?"

"ABSOLUTELY!" Bonnie was in her element. "Collette, I'm sorry I can't walk home with you today, can I call you tonight?"

The friend took it in full stride, though she did cast a curious glance to Freedom. "Yeah, okay."

"Great!"

"Why don't you head over to Cinnamon, Bonnie." The first mew gestured towards the waiting Mexican. "I'll be there in a sec." Most of the students had left after the scuffle had ended. Freedom turned with a smirk to see her brother now standing and gawking, as opposed to sitting and gawking. "Tell mom I'll be late, k? Oh," She leaned down to his level. "And I'll make sure Bonnie stays safe, just for you."

Satisfied with his coloring face she quickly turned and moved out of range of any other attacks he might concoct, joining the girls and then heading to the café.

X X X X X X X X X X X X

Tawny was running.

When she had gotten off the bus and began to weave her way through the alleys she always took home, the feeling had come back.

The feeling that someone was following her.

She hadn't run then, but her pace had quickened. No, she had started to run when she had seen a shadow off a wall opposite of her.

Of a floating figure.

She didn't know why, she didn't know how, but panic had seized her. And she had begun to run. Faster, faster, faster!

Something tackled her from behind, pushing her to the ground. She managed to twist herself around, ready to fend off the strange owner of the shadow.

And found something much worse.

As her scream was cut short by the creature, Lentro watched from above in satisfaction. _One down… _he looked back in the direction of the apartment complex, smiling cynically. _And one to go…_

**O_o … I just realized some of you might have taken that as she was killed. She's alive! I didn't just kill her! Promise! Yes, Lentro is a bit scary. I actually like his character though… I hope that doesn't make me weird. The next chapter will be up by the end of April, or else I will never ask for reviews again :gasp: But since it's not the end of April… Anybody feel like reviewing on that creepy ending? Or Tawny? Or Freedom and Timmy? Etc.**


End file.
